Of Much Toil and Trouble
by LadyMacbeth98
Summary: Red haired, green eyed and highly talented, Lily Evans begins her fifth year at Hogwarts. Its 1974, war is brewing and trouble is on the way for all those who stand against the darkness. How will Lily deal with the challenges of not only being a prefect and an over-achieving witch, but also being a teenager and all the problems that entails?
1. Tiny Tee Houses and Tiny Disputes

**Tiny Tee Houses and Tiny Disputes**

London was a big city, with many sites to see and plenty of people to do so. Everywhere, small groups of chattering tourists crowded the pavements, taking pictures and pointing wildly around themselves. Even the cloudy sky, promising rain, could not keep them at bay. When the rain would come they would all simply pull out their brightly coloured raincoats, or rush to the nearest gallery and continue their picture snapping and wild pointing there.

Everyone was incredibly busy and so even the Londoners themselves did not notice the little 14 year old girl slipping through the masses, dragging a little boy of the same age along behind her.

Lily was incredibly impatient to finally get to the Leaky Cauldron. It had taken them a full 2 hours to get to London and she was determined not to waste another second of their precious time. After all, Severus had to be back home by eight, so his father would not find out that he had left.

"Lily, would you stop running for just a second! We still have ages till the train leaves…" Severus whined from behind her, barely able to catch his breath. In truth, Severus enjoyed the way Lily held onto his arm as she was pulling him through the crowds. He would have given anything to make that last longer and he knew once they reached the Leaky Cauldron she would let go.

"Come one, Sev, we're almost there!" Lily called back to him, shooting him a quick smile over her shoulder. She was so excited to finally be back. Aside from the handful of visits to her friends' houses, Lily had not felt a part of the magical world in forever. It was truly unfair that they were still forbidden from using magic outside of school for another three years!

Lily had been right, after only a few more minutes of squeezing through crowds and walking down a few slightly less busy alleyways, they were finally there. The faded sign of the Leaky Cauldron loomed before them in all its run down glory.

"See? I told you. Now let's go through quickly, or I swear I'll starve!"

* * *

Some 15 minutes later, Lily and Severus found themselves sitting inside Madam Gertrud's Tiny Tee House. A wonderful little place Lily and Severus had found only two years earlier, while chasing after her newly bought owl. It was stuffed full with cushions and doyleys, and absolutely everything was made of a different colour. No two tee-cups looked even remotely similar and no two chairs were of the same make. The name was not a lie either. The place really was tiny, only allowing for enough space for four tables and two chairs to go with each. When walking to a certain table, one often had to squeeze their way through. Everything there was just so out-of-place and bizarre, that Lily could not help but feel at home there whenever they would visit.

But it had not been the crazy look of it which had made Lily and Severus go in the first time. It had been the brilliant smell wafting out the door way. Her tees, hot chocolates and freshly baked pumpkin cream-pies always made Madam Gertrud's smell like absolute heaven!

"So, I've got something to tell you." Lily said, her voice rising with excitement after she had finished of her last bite of pie. Severus looked at her expectantly, hoping desperately whatever it was, did not include her and that stupid Ravenclaw boy whom he had caught staring at her several times during the last semester.

"Yes?" he asked cautiously, glancing at her sideways.

Lily immediately picked up on his strange behaviour, and quickly responded; "Oh, no don't worry, it's nothing bad! I'm not sick or anything, don't worry. I just got a letter from school the other day!"

Excitedly she produced a letter, with a broken Hogwarts seal on the front. "You won't believe it! I've been made a Prefect! Can you imagine? Me? A Prefect…" Lily could barely contain her excitement, bouncing up and down in her chair, waving the little letter in her best friend's face.

Clearly relieved, the tension left Severus' face as he took the letter from Lily and gave it a quick read. Of course, Severus _could_ believe it. Lily was one of, if not the, brightest witch in their year. She excelled in her classes and teachers like Professor Slughorn thought Lily was absolutely charming. Besides, she was a stickler for rules, just like him. "Congratulations Lily! You deserve it. You really, really do!" he gave her a little smile and handed back her letter. "I'm happy for you, truly! Of course, you'll have your work cut out for you, what with Potter and his little gang being in your house! I tell you Lily, the one good thing about being home over the summer, is not having to see those four…"

Lily's face immediately lost some of its glow. "I hadn't even though of that… Merlin, if those idiots give me trouble, I swear I will hex them into next week!" Suddenly Lily giggled, her face lighting up once more, realizing something. "You know what, maybe I will just put them in detention for so long, they won't even have the time to do something stupid!"

At that, Severus couldn't help but laugh, as well.

After paying, which Lily took care of, as she always did, Lily and Severus left Madam Gertrud's and headed back towards Diagon Ally. Lily's parents always gave her a little extra money when she told them she was going somewhere with Severus, as they knew he would not be given any by his parents, and they did not want him to miss out.

Once they reached Diagon Ally, chatting about cauldrons, they turned left and headed a little further down the busy road. Lily loved this place. The colours, the smells, the witches and wizards all in their true wizarding robes. This was what truly felt right to her!

"Personally, I think the cauldrons from Sir Pemboulies Potion Supplies are absolutely rubbish! The lining comes off and meddles with the balance of the ingredients if you make anything even remotely acidic!" Severus said casually, holding the door to Slug & Jiggers Apothecary open for Lily. Smiling at him Lily walked in. She adored the smell that always came from inside that place, even if it was a very strong one. All the herbs and funny looking ingredients lining the shelves in various forms always made her feel light headed, and yet it reminded her of potions class, which was, after all, one of her absolutely favourite classes.

"But" Lily countered, rummaging in her hand bag for that ridiculously long list of supplies they needed to get. "That batch of dreamless sleep potion we came up with last year was fantastic. I mean it must be about the pewter in the cauldron, don't you think? Did you make a note of that somewhere? Be a shame if you didn't. I don't think even Slughorn has ever laid eyes on a more perfect version of that stuff… Aha!" she said triumphantly. Finally she had found that damned list. Reading it over carefully, Lily missed the look Severus was giving her. What a genius she was and what an idea! Together they had found out so many things about making potions even better, of course they should be keeping track of it somewhere. Right away he vowed he would do so.

"Sev…?" Lily called from the other end of the store, looking over at him with concern. He had been so deep in thought, he hadn't even noticed that she had walked off to collect all the things they needed.

"Coming" quickly he walked up to her. Curiously Severus looked at all the things Lily had already put into a little basket one of the shop owners had handed her. "Is that G-"

"Why if it isn't the most beautiful red head ever and her greasy little friend!" a familiar voice called out to them from somewhere near the entrance. "Oh, how we've missed you, right Padfoot?"

Both Severus and Lily tensed up immediately as they heard the voices, Lily being the first to spin around. If looks could kill, why then James Potter would easily have been dead. Lily glared at him, her temper rising quickly. How dare he insult her friend?

"Oh, only Evans, not Snivellus, that is of course!" Sirius Black answered, the same amused smirk on his face as he and Peter Pettigrew entered the shop behind his mate, taking in the scene.

"Oh yeah, that goes without saying!" they all laughed at their own little joke. Beside her, Lily could feel Severus' temper rising as well. Why did they have to ruin everything? They had been having such a nice quite day before those arrogant asses had to show up.

Quickly Lily reached a hand out for Severus. "Sev, let's just pay and go, I've got everything we need. They're not even worth it!" Severus didn't look at her. He couldn't.

"Yeah, Snivellus, you would just get hurt!" James chided, knowing how to push his buttons. What he had not seen coming, however, was Lily's reaction. She couldn't stand by for even a moment longer. Within seconds she was in front of him.

"Come to give me a k-" was all he got out before she slapped him hard over the face.

"Screw you, Potter, you arrogant bullying prick!" with that she turned back to Severus. "Come on, let's go!"

Severus stared at her, completely in shock. He had to blink a few times before he could get himself to move. Once they were on the streets, Severus had gained his wits back enough to think. He thought, he had never seen Lily do anything so brilliant. But on the other hand, he didn't need her to stick up for him! He could have handled that himself! He _should_ have handled it himself...

"I don't need you to defend me!" Severus snapped at Lily who looked at him completely perplexed.

"I never said you did!" she snapped back at him, hurt he should see it that way. It was only natural that she wanted to defend him from those idiots! He was her best friend, for crying out loud…

"Well it's what you did, didn't you? You thought I wouldn't be able to handle it myself and so you thought you had to step in, well Lily, I could have dealt with them! I'm not some little baby!" Severus was almost shouting now.

"Fine" Lily shouted back. "Fine! Go and do it all alone then! I definitely don't need this! See you on the train" she added, glaring at him furiously. With that she turned around and left, hurrying away from him, tears already rising up in her eyes.

* * *

"Lily?" someone asked close behind her. Lily had been hiding behind a little shop in an ally leading away from the main street. She did not want anyone to see her cry. Quickly she whipped the tears away from her eyes before turning around to face whoever had spoken to her.

"Alice!" Lily exclaimed, unable to stop herself from throwing her arms around her friend. Merlin, was she happy to see her. She had felt so alone just hiding there.

"Lily, what in Merlin's name happened? Are you alright?" Alice hugged her back tightly, the concern clear in her voice.

"I'm fine…" Lily said with a deep sigh, finally letting go of Alice to move back a step. It wasn't a complete lie. She was so glad to see Alice. "I had a fight with Severus, that's all…"

"Of course, you did!" Alice shook her head, her face hardening at the thought of that slimy git hurting her friend's feelings. "I just don't get why you're friends with him! He is so…"

"Alice please don't! Can we just go for a little walk or something along those lines? Have you got all your supplies yet? I still need all of mine…" Lily looked down at her hands slightly embarrassed. After she had slapped Potter, she had forgotten all about the fact that she still needed to buy those potion ingredients…

"Sure, let's do that! Frank's meeting me later, he'll be so happy to see you!"

* * *

The Hogwarts express shot past the scenery outside Lily's window with a speed that was making her feel sick. This was the first time she was not riding on the train with her best friend, since their first trip there. It just felt wrong!

"Cheer up Lily, the trolley will be here soon!" Marlene said to Lily with a big smile on her face. "That Snape boy is so not worth you looking so glum! Besides you have that Prefect's meeting soon. Come on, Evans, remember how excited you were for that last week?"

Marlene was right. Not about Severus, but about the meeting, at least. She had been so proud that morning as she pinned her very own Prefect's badge to her robe. A small smile spread on her face, much to Marlene's approval.

"There we go, much better! Now you can tell us all about how you _slapped_ Potter!?"

"What?!" everyone in the compartment had turned to face her at that.

Lily was sitting in a compartment with all five girls from her dorm as well as Frank, as Alice and he had become glued together at the hip ever since the year before. They made a very sweet couple, Lily had always thought, and the way he looked at her… Well she wanted that too someday.

"Let's not make a big thing out of it, alright? Because it wasn't…"

Dorcas Meadows stared at her one eyebrow raised. "What did he do now?"

"He insulted me and Sev and I snapped. It was wrong of me to do it, since I'm a Prefect now and all that, but I couldn't help it! That boy drives me mad I tell you… I swear he will be the end of me!"

All the girls laughed at Lily's dramatic tone, though she'd only been half joking. That Potter boy really did make her so angry, she could barely express it in words. What an arrogant brat.

"Anyways, I should get going, mustn't be late for my very first Prefect's meeting!"

Needless to say, Lily reached the Prefect's compartment 10 minutes early. No one was even there yet, giving her a moment to look around. It was a big compartment, about the size of two regular ones put together. A large cork board had been hung up on one of the walls with a long list of names pinned onto it as well as an empty table with what appeared to be the patrol schedule times written in its margins. Around the other walls were the same seats that could be found in the other compartments. Unsure what else to do, Lily took a seat. She was incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

After a little while a few other students started coming in through the compartment door. Some Ravenclaws, and a few Hufflepuffs Lily didn't really know.

"Evans? I thought you might be the other new Gryffindor Prefect" a friendly voice said to her. Lily turned to face the source of the voice, already knowing who it belonged to. Remus Lupin. One of Potters little friends, though admittedly, out of all of them, Lupin would have been her first pick. He was a sweet looking little boy with a kind blue eyes and light brown hair.

"Lupin." Lily said, though not completely unfriendly. She knew him to be a good student and, on the rare occasions that they had chatted, Lily had found him to be clever and kind to say the least. It could have been worse, Lily reminded herself. She could have gotten Potter himself… Well, clearly Dumbledore had an interesting sense of humour, if he thought making one of the Marauders a Prefect was a good idea.

Remus sat down next to her, an absentminded smile plastered on his face. "How have you been, Evans? Have a good summer?" he asked, just to pass the time till their meeting would start.

"Alright, I suppose. Nothing to exciting. How about you?"

Lupin made to answer, but did not get the time to do so, for in that moment two more students entered the by now packed compartment. By the looks of them, the boy and girl were probably both seventh years.

"Hello Prefects!" the blond boy welcomed everyone. He wore the robes and tie of a Ravenclaw, just as the girl who had entered with him did. Lily did not know either of them.

"For those of you that are new, welcome to our ranks! My name is Hector Travers and this is Vivian Price. As you can probably all guess by now, we have been made your Head Boy and Girl for this year." At that, everyone, especially the other Ravenclaws, cheered and clapped in congratulation.

"Thank you!" the girl, who had been introduced as Vivian Price, said and then quickly continued, "we hope, that with the help of all of you, we will be able to do our very best."

"Yes, exactly. Now, let's get this meeting started, shall we? Don't want to keep you all for too long!"

* * *

When the meeting was over Lily left the compartment with Remus trailing after her. The meeting had taken a surprisingly long time. It took a while to get 24 people to settle down and listen. And then, the Head boy and girl had to explain all the rules and duties the Prefects would have for the rest of their time at Hogwarts. Lastly, the time schedule for the next month had been created. Lily had of course, to her frustration, been paired with Remus for the next few patrol tours. Their first one would take place on the second week back at school. Tuesday, from eight till midnight. At least they did not have to patrol the Hogwarts Express after the meeting.

"What do you think about Travers and Price?" Remus asked as they made their way back down the Hogwarts train towards their own compartments. Lily shrugged, they seemed nice enough and Travers had come across as a very capable leader. Price on the other hand, really hadn't said all that much, which Lily thought was quite a shame.

"I think they will do a good job." She offered. "There's the trolley, I'm starving!" Lily pointed out, hoping ever so slightly that this was going to be a way for her to escape. It wasn't really that she didn't want to talk to Remus, or that she particularly wanted to get back to her compartment. It was more because she knew, the more she time she spent with Lupin, the more likely she was to run into Potter at any given moment.

No such luck however, for Lupins eyes lit up at the mention of the trolley. "Me too! I practically _need_ chocolate right now!"

Lily smiled a little at that. He was just as obsessed with chocolate as she was…

After they had bought a handful of things, Remus a lot more than Lily, came an awkward moment of indecision. Where do we go…?For obvious reasons, Lily did not want to join Remus in his compartment full of the other Marauders, and taking him back to her own compartment would mean more talk about how she had slapped Potter.

Lily giggled at their situation and Remus grinned back shyly. "Well… would you like to find an empty compartment and share our sweets? I see you bought the last jelly slugs!" Lily asked, already looking around for a place they could go.

Remus' grin turned into a full on smile at her proposal. Not only because he enjoyed spending time with her, but also because he couldn't wait to see the look on James' face when he told him he got to spend the whole time he was gone, alone with Lily Evans. No doubt he would be furious.

"Here's one!" Remus called out to Lily after finding a completely empty compartment.

At first, they had talked only very little, munching away on their sweets. Sharing some, trading others. It was nice. Uncomplicated and fun. Lily did not have to explain herself to Remus. They had no history to burden them and so, when they did start talking, it was freely and filled with jokes and laughing.

They talked about Prefect duties, school loads, and studying. Lily told Remus how she was feeling behind on studying for the O.W.L.s even though she and Severus had already started studying during the end of third year. Remus told Lily how he felt bad for thinking about dropping Divination and Care for Magical Creatures after this year.

"Oh don't feel bad, Remus, I understand completely. I personally think that I may have taken on a slightly too big work load. Don't look at me like that, even I am allowed to admit it. I am going to have to do 11 written and ten practical O.W.L.s! I do admit I feel a little stressed out. More about some than about others, of course. I am actually looking forward to the potions exam. I like to be challenged you see and I am good at making potions." Lily giggled a little. She never really talked about this sort of a thing with anyone except Severus.

"Eleven? Wow. You chose to take almost all subject then?" Remus asked, looking at Lily with big eyes. He was a good student, but even he had only chosen three elective subjects during his second year, just like James. Of course, he knew better than to bring that up.

By the time the train had finally reached Hogsmeade station, Lily had been starving once again. And oh, how she looked forward to the Great Feast, especially to the desserts. Nowhere, except perhaps Madam Gertruds, could one get their hands on better pumpkin tarts or, Lily's favourite, chocolate gateauxs. She could barely sit still on the ride up to Hogwarts.

Getting there however did prove more difficult than anticipated, as Severus turned out to be the owner of the hand that had helped her from the carriage once they had arrived.

Lily's stomach knotted up, upon seeing him. It had been awful not being able to talk to him on the train or on the way up to Hogwarts. She had felt strangely lonely.

"Sev-" was all she got out before she could no longer resist to throw her arms around him. "I'm sorry I-"

"Please don't be sorry, Lily, I acted like a complete ass! I guess…" he trailed off as he held on to her tightly, never ever wanting to let go again. "I'm really sorry! I don't want to fight with you!"

It was a completely honest statement. Not talking to her and at the same time not knowing if she would forgive him, had been absolute torture to him. Severus had felt like he was entirely alone sitting there in his compartment, surrounded only by Slytherins. Certainly, they were supposed to be his mates, but it just wasn't the same without her. Nothing was.

"It's alright, Sev. I understand! Really, this is all to blame on those three pricks anyways…"

* * *

 ** _Hello everyone, thank you for reading and I hoped you liked it! Please leave me a review and if you enjoyed it don't forget to give this a follow because I will be updating weekly!_**

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	2. Perfecting the Vanishing Spell

**Perfecting the Vanishing Spell**

Lily was beyond happy that that the fight between her and Severus was now over and the air between them had been cleared. She hated fighting with her friends. It scared her to think that one minute you could be enjoying someone's company, sharing secrets with them, feeling safe, and the next there could be this horrible distance! How did people do it without breaking down?

But all was well again between her and Severus, and so they sat together at the very end of the Slytherin table, each stuffing their plates full to the brim with delicious food.

"I can't wait to show the new Gryffindor first-years up to Gryffindor tower! Don't laugh, I am!" she said with a wide grin on her face. Even if no one would understand, she was more proud than she had ever been about her new position. She meant to take her new duties very seriously.

"I'm sure you will do it very well!" Severus answered, the shadow of a laugh still left on his lips. He liked the fact that she was a rule-abiding, straight and narrow girl. It suited her immensely, in his eyes. "This job was made for you, no question."

"Thank you, Sev." Lily blushed vigorously, looking down at the rest of her chocolate dessert. It meant a lot to her that he would say that. She had always valued his opinion, ever since they were kids.

When everyone was finished, the rest of the food vanished from the house tables and Dumbledore got up once more.

"As always, that was a delicious meal and I shall not keep you all from your beds for very much longer. So, Prefects, please escort all first-years to their dorm rooms and have a most pleasant sleep!"

Lily practically jumped from her seat. "See you tomorrow, Sev!" she called over to him, waving as she walked back over to the Gryffindor table.

"Goodnight!" Severus called after her, though she could no longer hear him.

"Gryffindor first-years to me!" Lily shouted over the noise of the hundreds of students making their way out the door. "To me! Everyone to me!"

They would never find their way to her that way, Lily thought, she simply wasn't tall enough. Quickly she climbed onto the long bench next to Gryffindor table. "Gryffindor first-years to me!" She shouted once more, with much more effect. After a few minutes all 13 first-years were huddled around her in the now practically empty hall.

"I think you can get down now, Lily." Lupin hissed up to her, with a more than amused look on his face. Quickly Lily obliged. "Good idea, though." He added approvingly.

"Alright then first-years, welcome to Gryffindor house! This is Remus Lupin, I am Lily Evans and we are two of the six Prefects of Gryffindor house. In a second we will show you to your dorm rooms, up in Gryffindor tower. Can all the girls please follow me and all the boys go with Remus once we tell you to split up? Any questions?" Lily asked with an encouraging look on her face. All the first-years stared at her and Remus with big eyes, no one making a sound.

"Alright then, no questions. If you do find that you have any questions, problems or anything like that, Remus and I are always more than happy to help. So, just come up to us and ask alright? Come on then, let's get you to bed!"

With that Lily started walking towards the exit of the Great Hall, swelling with pride. "Remus, will you take the rear and make sure we don't lose anyone on the stairs?" She called over her shoulder, remembering what they had been told by the Head Boy and Girl. The moving stairs were quite scary, when approached for the first time. As Lily could recall, she used to avoid them as much as possible in her first year. Of course, that hadn't really worked out, since the Gryffindor Common Room was all the way up on the seventh-floor.

They made it up the stairs and along the corridors just fine, however, and completely without losing any of the first-years. When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Remus explained the system of passwords and gave the portrait the current one. Felix Culpa. Easy enough to remember, Lily hoped.

Once they had entered, Remus and Lily explained to the gawking new first-years about the next few days. About how they would show them down to breakfast the next morning and then take them to class. As Lily suspected, only half of them were listening. The other half was looking around widely and pointing things out to their new-found friends. Of course, Gryffindor Common Room was quite the sight to see. She was incredibly glad to be back, as this was where she always felt safe and at home.

"Now, let's get you to bed. Your belongings will already have been taken up! Splitting up now, remember?"

Lily and Remus waved one another good-night (as did some of the new first-years) and went their separate ways. Lily and the 7 girls disappearing up the stairs to the girl's dormitories on the left and Remus and his group of 6 little boys walking up the stairs on the right.

And thus, another year at Hogwarts was about to begin…

* * *

"Here is your schedule, Miss Evans!" Professor McGonagall handed Lily a piece of parchment with a neatly drawn time table on it. She always did this after the first breakfast back at Hogwarts. "And congratulations on becoming a Prefect. Although I must say, I was not surprised in the slightest!"

"Thank you, Professor!" Lily said with a bright smile. She could feel the Prefects pin hanging heavily on her robes.

"I trust all the new Gryffindor first-years made it to their dorms without any trouble last night?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow, though her voice was kind.

"Absolutely, Professor, and Remus and I brought them down for breakfast this morning as well. We will take them to class in a few minutes."

"Excellent work, Miss Evans and Mr Lupin." McGonagall handed Remus, who had just dropped into the space across from her, his schedule as well. "I will see you both first period." And with that she was off down the table, handing out more schedules to awaiting students and anxious first-years.

"So, we have Transfigurations first period, do we?" James Potter's voice asked, looking over Lily's shoulder at her schedule. His sudden appearance had made her jump ever so slightly. Quickly she put the parchment into her bag and out of his sight.

"Well, I hope that _we_ don't, Potter, or I would hate Monday mornings even more!" It was a lie, of course. Lily had absolutely nothing against Mondays. Only people who preferred their free time to their work or studying ever did. Lily liked learning, it just came so easily to her. What she did have a problem with, on the other hand, was having to share a classroom with that arrogant toe-rag for any longer than was necessary. Plus, and she would never ever admit it, James Potter was very good at transfigurations. A dangerous rival, even to her.

"Oh, on the contrary Evans, nothing would make my Mondays sweeter. Sit next to me, will you?" he asked with a cocky grin plastered on his face, as he and the rest of the Marauders slid down on the bench next to her. Lily would have loved to hex it right off of him in that moment. Instead she decided on only rolling her eyes and getting up to leave.

"Hardly." Lily said without another look back at the Potter boy or his friends. As fast as she could, she made her way out of the Great Hall and decided to wait there for Remus and the little first-years. However, she did regret not having been given the chance to finish her toast. Strawberry jam always tasted better at Hogwarts than anywhere else.

* * *

After having brought the loud group of excited first-years to their first period (positions class, all the way down in the dungeons), Lily and Remus were running late, and since that would hardly leave a very good impression on Professor McGonagall, the two ran down the halls as fast as they could.

"Why on earth do we have to have Transfiguration in classroom 99 this year?" Remus huffed, completely out of breath as they finally made it up the last flight of stairs. "Classroom 1B was a lot easier to get to!"

Lily just smiled at that as they joined the group of their fellow students inside the classroom. "Easier to get to from the Great Hall, yes, but this is faster when coming from Gryffindor common room."

Quickly, Lily glanced around the room. By the time they had gotten there, there were only two tables left to choose from. One in the front and one in the back, left corner.

"Shall we, Evans?" Remus asked smiling at her and signing to the table right up front. Lily didn't see why not. Even if he was friends with _those_ boys, she had grown quite fond of him since the train ride. Besides, there wasn't much else she could have done.

"If you please, Mr Lupin." she agreed, jokingly. As she walked up to take her seat next to Remus, however, a dark-haired boy ran past her and slipped into the chair she had been heading to.

"What are you doing, Padfoot?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows and sounding slightly annoyed. He was not one for silly games, that much was clear.

"Why, I am sitting next to my dearest of friends, Moony, what else?" Sirius Black said with played innocence and a great big grin. "Oh, hello Evans!" he said, pretending to only just have noticed her. "I didn't even see you. Where you going to sit here? Oh no, I am so sorry! Would you mind terribly if I sat here with dear old Remus? I really need his help with transfigurations. I am really bad at… you know… transfiguring things!"

Lily crossed her arms and looked at him with great suspicion. What where they up to now? Surely it wasn't just to get on her nerves.

"Oh are you now, _Padfoot_?" Remus interjected before Lily could open her mouth to protest. As always, he was entirely clueless as to what the others were planning. But then again, even if he had been let in on all this, he probably wouldn't have agreed to play along.

"Certainly, Remus, and you know it!" Peter Pettigrew answered for Black. Lily hadn't even noticed him sitting in the row behind where Black was now seated.

Black nodded in utter agreement, yet with a serious expression on his face before turning back to face Lily. "Besides, Evans doesn't mind, do you, Evans?"

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes for the second time that morning. This was exactly the kind of childish behaviour she would never understand. Complete morons, the lot of them. No brains, whatsoever!

And so, she spun around on her heels and walked back in the direction of the only other empty table. Or at least when they had walked in, it had been empty. Now one of the two chairs was occupied by a smirking, messy haired boy with round glasses, rocking back and forth in it. Potter.

Of course! How had she not seen this coming? This was another one of _their_ stupid plans to take the piss out of her and drive her mad! Those pathetic, ignorant, slimy… toads!

But there was nothing she could do. There were no other empty seats. Lily had no choice but to take a deep breath and walk up to the table in the back corner.

" 'ello Evans, decided to sit with me after all, have you?" James Potter said with a cocky smile on his lips. Graciously, as if doing her a great favour, he took his bag from the seat next to him and offered it to her. "What persuaded you? It's my devilishly good looks, isn't it?"

Lily was about to scream, she was so angry, but she was interrupted.

"Good morning Class!" Professor McGonagall said as she walked in through the teachers' entrance at the front of their tiny classroom. "Today we will be- for Merlin's sake, Miss Evans why aren't you seated?"

Lily turned bright red as everyone turned around to stare at her. "Sorry, Professor." She said and quickly sat down next to that despicable boy. This was going to be a long first period, she thought.

Once everyone was settled in, they had started on the topic of vanishing spells, an important topic when it came to the O.W.L.s, Professor McGonagall had assured them. Nevertheless, Lily had found it very hard to concentrate. What with the Potter boy continuously trying to gain her attention… First he had conjured up a flying paper bird which flew around the room before it burst into flame at a wave of Professor McGonagalls' wand. Then, after being reprimanded, Potter had set to trying to impress her by accomplishing the spell they had been given, before her. Luckily, it was not an easy spell to master, or Lily would have been highly irritated, if not angry.

Still, the lesson did end on a positive note, Lily thought, as she did finally manage to make the spell work and on nothing less than James Potters oh so precious hair. Well, on some of it at least. He would now be forced to sport a very interesting hairstyle, featuring a small, but very much visible, bold spot at the back of his head. The best part, really, though, was that Potter did not yet know about his resent change of hairstyle. Oh, what Lily would have given to be there when he found out!

Thank god McGonagall didn't notice it either. She would not have been happy, that much was certain. That was not the kind of behaviour that was expected from a Prefect like herself. In fact, this was exactly the sort of thing Potter and his friends would do. If Lily had not been quite so proud of herself, she would have been disgusted to have stooped to their level.

As the bell had rung, Lily got up quietly, packed her things and walked out the door. To her great amusement and pleasure, though, she did hear a roar of laughter and an angry growl from back inside the classroom as she walked down the corridor.

* * *

Care for magical creatures also passed quickly enough, even though it was one of Lilys' least favourite classes. Not because the one-legged Professor Kettleburn was a bad teacher or even because the magical creatures featured in his lessons were in anyway uninteresting. Seeing Hagrid assisting Professor Kettleburn was also always enjoyable. He was such a lovely person.

Lily simply preferred to work on more practical things, or at least what she thought of as "practical". Divination, of course, was even worse. She hated divination. Mostly because she was not very good at it, at all.

Once they had been dismissed, Lily had quickly joined a group of her friends, walking back up to the castle, chatting as they went along.

"Merlin's beard, we have Divination next, Lily!" Mary sighed staring at her time table as they walked together. "If there is one thing I missed the least this summer, then it has to be Divination with Professor Evenius. I cannot stand that woman! First thing I do once we've done the O.W.L.s is drop that class for good!"

Lily grinned at her friend. "Miss McDonald, you only speak this way because you have not yet let yourself open up to the world of prophesies!" Lily gestured around herself wildly, imitating their Professor perfectly.

Mary rolled her eyes at the words, Professor Evenius tended to say to her at least once a week. "If I open myself up any more I will probably lose my mind just like you, P _rofessor Evenius_!" Mary answered mockingly, which landed her with a good round of laughs from the other girls.

"You really shouldn't talk like that about Professor Evenius. I like her lessons!" Emmeline spoke up. She was one of the few in Lily's class that was actually good at Divinations. She could always find a hidden meaning in what seemed like random patterns in Lily's tea leaves or crystal ball. The most unnerving thing, though, was that one or two of her prophesies had actually come true. Once, during their second year, Emmeline had told Lily she would trip and break her arm the next day, if she would not refrain from walking passed all portraits containing yellow. Naturally, Lily had given her silly warning no head and went about her business as usual the next day. However, when she had walked passed a portrait full of bright sun flowers dancing in the wind, a cat had ran into her way, sending her flying. She had been forced to stay in the hospital wing for two days after that.

"Remind me not to sit next to you, Emmeline, I really don't need any more broken bones!" Lily joked good-naturedly as she pulled open the door to the Entrance Hall.

There was one thing Lily was looking forward to in Divination. Severus would be there with her. They had so few classes together this year.

* * *

The rest of their day had passed without anything particularly interesting happening. Nonetheless, it was not as tedious as it could have been, as Lily and Severus found great amusement every time James Potter tuned his head away from them. The new haircut was fitting, Severus had thought. Lily never failed to prove herself a highly intelligent and resourceful witch.

"Evans!" someone called out to Lily as she was grabbing a book from high up on the shelves. As usual, she was in the library, a vast place, with hundreds of book cases and corridors between them. Hundreds of tables too. Even some comfortable arm chairs if one knew where to look.

She always preferred studying in there with Severus, after their lessons were over. The common room was just too crowded. Besides, just like it was the case with their house tables, they only rarely ventured into each other's common rooms. It was too much of a fuss. The looks, snickers, and comments. It certainly would have been easier had they both been sorted into the same house, they would often say. Though these days, neither of them would really have wanted to be part of the other's house.

They had even found themselves a secret little corner made up two big lime green armchairs facing a small fireplace adorned with several stone carvings. It was the best place in the entire library, and yet it was rarely occupied by anyone other than themselves, as it was so far back. They had discovered it trying to fill out a particularly difficult assignment on magical regulations, during their second year. Ever since then, it had become one of their traditions to study there, only emerging to retrieve new books.

Madam Tenbris looked up, slightly alarmed. She was not one to tolerate any noise in her library. Especially not from students so bluntly undermining her rules. "Silence, Mr Lupin!"

Lily turned around with an unsure smile on her face. She was already regretting how rashly she had acted towards Potter that morning. It was very un-prefectly of her. In fact, it was very unlike her, in general.

"Remus, I hope you don't-"

"That was a great prank you pulled, this morning! I wish you could have seen the face James made when Sirius told him! Absolutely priceless…"

Lily let out a sigh of relieve. She had been a little afraid that what she had done might change things between them. After all, he was friends with those boys.

"I shouldn't have done it, I know. Is he going to tell, do you think? If he does I'm finished. They will take my badge away, I'm sure!"

"Don't worry, James has done much worse, he isn't one to rat on someone else. I think he is more shocked that you are capable of such things." Remus whispered.

"I'm not! That wasn't me at all. I don't… Oh well. He deserved it!" Lily shrugged. He really had, after all, even if it had been wrong to stoop to his level.

"Hush! This is not a common room, get to work!" Madam Tenbris hissed at them once more. Remus smiled apologetically.

"See you at dinner, Evans!"

* * *

 _ **Hey everyone, hope you liked this second chapter, I really enjoyed writing it!**_

 _ **See you next week,**_

 _ **LadyMacbeth98**_

 ** _(and a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	3. A Prefects Duty

**A Prefect's Duty**

"Felix culpa" Lily mumbled the new Gryffindor password to the painting of the Fat Lady. After a long first week back at school, Lily barely looked up as the portrait swung forward, the Fat Lady tutting quietly. A double period of History of Magic, had taken its toll on her. It was a fascinating subject, of course, but two hours of listening to Professor Binns droning on and on about the Giant's War of 1900 was a much more potent sleeping draught than Lily could ever have brewed up herself.

The day had started off rather well, with a double period of potions, luckily together with Severus. Together, they had brewed up a wonderful batch of Herbicide Potion. Rather easy and enjoyable. But after that, her day had turned very hectic and busy. A full day of lessons and her first Prefect's meeting at Hogwarts had gone by at an incredibly slow pace, and having to miss half of her lunch due to some first years needing her help finding their way back to Gryffindor common room from the other end of the castle, certainly hadn't helped. By the time she had finally gotten to the great hall, there was barely any time left to eat.

As Lily walked through the passage, crossed the half empty common room, and dashed up the stairs, all she could think about was taking a hot bath in the Prefect's bathroom before dinner. She had been looking forward to this ever since she had received her letter during the summer. It was said to be a grand and fantastic experience.

Absentmindedly, she pushed open the door to the girls' dormitory which she shared with her friends. A familiar smell of heavy wooden furniture and six girls sharing a room greeted her upon entering. Only two girls where in. Dorcas and Marlene.

Dorcas, a bull-headed, captivating, young girl who was at least one head taller than Lily, sat on her bed reading the Daily Prophet. Unlike most of the other girls in their year, Dorcas liked to keep her hair short and styled into wild looking hairdos, befitting of her own sporadic and unpredictable nature.

Lily had always liked Dorcas. She was never afraid to say what she thought. In fact, Lily highly doubted Dorcas had ever been afraid of anything before.

Marlene, a graceful and elegant young woman, with long brown hair, sat at a little desk next to her bed, taking notes with a large feathered quill.

Both girls looked up at the sound of the door opening. "Hello Lily." Dorcas said cheerfully, Marlene only smiling up at her for a second before returning to her notes.

"You two look hard at work!" Lily greeted them, as she walked over towards her own bed in the back-left corner. As always, her bed was made and the curtains had been fluffed and pulled back. This was something she would never get used to. In the muggle world, no one ever made her bed for her, unless her family was taking a vacation somewhere, which they rarely did these days.

"Not me, I don't work on Fridays." Dorcas proclaimed proudly. She was not one to bother too much with school work, Lily thought, pulling her suitcase out from under her bed, rummaging through it impatiently. She distinctly remembered putting her second towel in their before leaving Cokeworth.

"I do, because I actually want good grades!" Marlene interjected, her eyes never leaving the parchment in front of her.

"Well, there are more important things in life. Like this war for example. I myself can't wait till we can all join the fight. My mother, she works at the ministry if you remember, is always saying how urgently they will need help by then…" It scared Lily, how wistful Dorcas sounded as she talked of joining the fighting. A lot of things scared her these days.

"Has there been more attacks?" Lily asked, eyeing the paper in Dorcas' hand with concern.

"No. Nothing for a little while now. Maybe it will all be over soon…" Marlene answered for Dorcas who seemed suddenly quite deep in thought. "But then how will you prove yourself, Dorci? What if you don't get to play the hero?"

Lily barely heard what Dorcas retorted. The two of them, they didn't understand. Yes, Dorcas' mother worked at the ministry, but she was a pure-blooded minister of magical education, and her father was a just as pure-blooded correspondent for the Witch-Weekly. They had nothing to fear. Neither did Marlene, though she came from a slightly less ancient family of pure-bloods. They could choose to stand up and fight, or they could step-aside, as no doubt many others did.

For Lily, this was not an option. She could not afford to do nothing, or she herself might become a target. Or worse, her parents might. There was nothing she could do to protect them. She was not permitted to use magic outside of school yet, and it all seemed rather pointless anyways, what with all the terrible news one could find in the Prophet almost every other day now. Those terrifying dark wizards seemed more and more unbeatable, with every effort that was made against them.

"… plus of course, my broth-"

Lily had jumped up so quickly, the other two girls went silent immediately. Lily blushed slightly. "Sorry, you two, I'm off to the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. Might be a while, so I will see you at dinner, all right?"

Without waiting for an answer Lily stormed out, leaving the two girls staring after her in confusion. Lily felt bad for a second, but surely, they would understand. She hated hearing about all the death and worrying about her family and friends, all the while feeling absolutely useless and unable to do anything for them.

The war had started before Lily had even received her Hogwarts acceptance letter. In fact, if it hadn't been for Severus, then Lily would not have even known about the magical world yet, when the first burst of rebellion erupted. It was almost soothing to think back on such times. When ignorance was bliss.

It had not been until her third year at Hogwarts, however, that the full extent and imminent threat of the war had finally dawned on Lily. She could remember the day quite clearly, even now, after almost two years. It had been a normal autumn morning, when she and Severus had been plucked from their lesson by a pale McGonagall, followed closely by a serious looking, tight lipped auror. That day, the two adults had escorted them quickly to the headmasters office, where they had been informed of an explosion, set of mere miles from their hometown. The wildfire, caused by a dark curse, was spreading fast, and as more and more news reached them about the death counts rising, so did Lily's panic. She would always remember how desperately afraid she had been that day.

It was in those hours, waiting desperately for any new of her family's well-being, that Lily stopped seeing the war as a far-off issue. Something she, her friends and her loved ones would be shielded from until it would inevitably end. Good triumphing over evil. That was simply not the case. This war would not die out without claiming the lives of thousands first. Not before it had divided the wizarding community and robbed them of every last hope, Lily had learned that day, even if, in the end, the fire had been put out before it had reached Cokeworth. Both her and Severus' family had gone unharmed, though perhaps only narrowly.

Lily could still taste the fear of that day in her mouth, whenever she thought back on it. It was always worse to fear for others than for oneself, she decided, walking down the halls of the castle. When you yourself are in a situation like that, at least you feel like you could do something. When you are tucked away in a castle, hundreds of miles up north, and unsure of what has even happened, all you can do is fear, hope and perhaps pray.

Thinking about all this, Lily had barely noticed where she was going. After five years at Hogwarts, Lily knew it almost as well as the back of her hand. Perhaps not every nook and cranny, but all the important parts at least, so it was easy for her to find her way without giving it too much thought. Lily had reached the sixth floor by the time she had started to take notice again properly.

As she was about to walk down a spiral staircase, which made up a somewhat lesser known passageway to the fifth floor, Lily heard a muffled noise coming from behind her. Ripped from her thoughts by the sound, she stopped in her tracks and listened. Nothing. Then, suddenly, another noise, this time more desperate. Perhaps a scream?

Now somewhat more alert, Lily doubled back to investigate. This part of the castle was always quiet once everyone had gone off to their dormitories, as it was predominantly made up of empty classrooms. Students weren't meant to hang around here after hours. Especially not inside classrooms. It was probably nothing, but still, something didn't seem right about this.

Listening as she walked, Lily followed the noises, sounding more and more like an argument. Perhaps it was Potter and his stupid friends stirring up trouble, or maybe some arguing first years who had lost their way. Whatever the case, as a Prefect, it was her responsibility to look into it. Besides, the closer she got, the more serious it sounded.

Cautiously, Lily walked to the end of the corridor and peeked around the corner. The adjacent hallway seemed, totally abandoned, but the sounds clearly came from there. Lily could now make things out more clearly. It was the sound of people talking. Two faint male voices and something else. Something, like a low squeal.

Looking past a case of animal skeletons hung on the wall, Lily caught sight of a light, streaming out from under the door of one of the classrooms. Quickly, she slipped around the corner and crept closer.

"Good one Ang, d'you reckon he'll squeal like this forever?" one voice said, roaring with laughter. Pausing once more, Lily listened, pressed to the wall next to the door to classroom 7B. Aside from the fact that these students should not be in there after their last lesson anyways, something was definitely off. Quietly,she drew her wand, just in case. She even recognized the voices coming from inside, though she could not quite put her finger on it.

"We'll see wont we…" The other voice answered, sounding just as amused. "I've never used polyjuice potion like this on another person."

"But he's not a person. The little vermin is just a filthy mudblood!"

At that, Lily knew who must have been inside classroom 7B. Avery and Mulciber. Two awful Slytherins, with a vial sense of humour. She had only now recognized their voices, as they had called her that too once. A mudblood. Behind her back of course.

Lily's heart had begun to race, a soft, desperate whimper still resonating from inside classroom 7B. She knew she had to act now, her fist tightening around her wand. There was no more time to get help. She had to get in there now. There was clearly another student in there. Someone they were calling a mudblood…

Impulsively, Lily grabbed hold of the door handle and threw it open, rushing in with her wand raised.

" _Expelliarmus_!" Lily shouted at the two boys before they could even comprehend what was happening. Two wands went flying into the air as both boys where knocked backwards hard, the disarming spell hitting them both in the stomach like a punch. Accidentally, Lily had let all her rage flow into her spell. This could be dangerous at worst, the outcome highly unpredictable, but Lily didn't care. She hadn't even planned to fire off a spell at all, she just sort of followed her gut and the words had spilled out of her. Though she had never been in a proper duel before, they had often practiced such things in Defence Against the Dark Arts and a disarming spell was always the first thing to try.

Both boys were knocked over, but only Avery, the boy who had stood closest to the door, stayed down. Mulciber, groaning and looking disoriented, struggled to his feet.

"Oh. It's you." He spat as he saw who had attacked him and his friend. Clearly, he recognized her, as his face hardened with anger and disgust. "You're that _mudblood_ Snape is so inexplicably friends with."

Lily drew in a sharp breath. There had only been a few times she had been called that, and only once to her face. It would certainly have hurt her, had she not been so angry already.

"My name is Lily Evans, and I am a Gryffindor pref-"

A desperate whimpering sound came from the corner of the room. Her wand still raised and pointed at Mulciber, Lily turned her head towards the sound, almost scared of what she might find. However what she did see, was far worse than anything she could have imagined. What the two boys had been talking about made sense to her now.

"Merlin's beard, what have you done?!" Lily shot at the Slytherin. But he was no longer standing where he had been a second earlier. Spinning around, she saw him as he dove for his wand, lying on the floor.

" _Accio wand_ " Lily cried and the wand went flying towards her just in time. Catching it with her left hand, she pointed her wand at him once more.

"You will be punished for this!" her face was flushed with anger and her voice hoarse and out of breath.

"Oh and you'll be the one to do it, will you, mudblood?" Mulciber sneered back at her, not looking particularly threatened by her. Suddenly, he lunged forward as if to take her out using his fists now that he no longer had his wand.

" _incarcerous_ " Lily mouthed and flicked her wand frantically. Thick ropes shot from her wand, forcing Mulciber to the ground just in time and binding his arms and legs. "No, I will simply make sure of it." She mumbled the shock still clear on her face.

"I suppose you might call for help and I'm afraid that can't happen, as I will need you to still be here when I return with Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn." She added once her heart had stopped racing. With another flick of her wand, the wriggling and protesting Mulciber lay before her gaged and bound.

Quickly, Lily turned back around once more, collecting Avery's wand as well. The prick seemed to have been knocked out, but she did not wish to risk anything now.

Once she had finished with the two Slytherins and ignoring Mulcibers muffled jeering, Lily rushed over to the corner, kneeling down next to the body. Up close, the little boy passed out in front of her looked even more disfigured. Mulciber had mentioned polyjuce potion, but clearly, they had not put a piece of a human inside it. The little boy, presumably a Hufflepuff first year, had been partially turned into what must have been a honey badger. His little arms covered entirely in black hair and his face had sprouted a long snout and black button nose. Little black teddy bear ears poked out from amidst his hair. Lily had read of such things before. The terrible side-effect of infusing polyjuice potion with non-human ingredients. It could not change the drinker into the animal and it would not wear of within an hour, as it would with say a human hair inside it.

Undoubtable the little boy needed to be brought to the infirmary at once. Hastily, Lily pushed her arms under his lifeless body and started to pull. Despite how small and fragile her looked, Lily could not lift him up on her own. Cursing under her breath, Lily put him back on the ground. Perhaps she could wait until he had regained consciousness. But then her ropes might not restrain the two Slytherin boys for that long and she did not want to be there once they got free.

Unable to think of any other option, Lily drew her own wand once more. With a slight swish and a mumbled " _Wingardium Leviosa_ " the boy's body jerked into the air.

"Hold still now, sweetheart, your safe now. We will lock these brutes in this room and then I will levitate you all the way to the infirmary!"

* * *

"You did the right thing by bringing him here." Madam Pomfrey said after she had tucked the little badger faced boy into a bed at the infirmary. The short, lean woman looked down on him with concern written clearly on her face. Together they had lowered the boy onto the bed and taken off his robe. After Lily had told her exactly what had happened to him, and the Hogwarts matron had checked his pulse, Madam Pomfrey had explained to her that he was most likely in shock and had passed out from it. He would surely wake up soon.

"I'll go contact the head of your house and Professor Slughorn. They will have to hear about this!" Madam Pomfrey said and stalked off in the direction of her office. Lily stared after her for a second, unsure what to do while she was gone.

Suddenly, the little boy began to move, jerking up-right in his bed and looking around with fear. He must have been terribly confused and frightened, Lily thought.

"Hey there you, you're awake!" Lily said in a soothing voice as she rushed around the bed to sit down on the chair next to his bed. "You don't have to be afraid, your safe now! I'm Lily Evans, I'm a Gryffindor Prefect and I brought you to the infirmary. What's your name?"

The boy continued to stare for a long second as if he was unsure of whether or not what he was seeing was real. "I…" he croaked in a high-pitched voice. It sounded unnatural and not quite human. "I'm Jason. Jason Ansel."

"Well you went through a lot today Jason, I'm really sorry." Lily said to him. It then dawned on her that he might not yet know or quite understand what had happened to him, so she quickly added, "Do you remember what happened to you, back in that classroom?"

"Yes Miss Evans, that is precisely what we would like to know as well!" Professor McGonagall's voice asked from behind Lily.

By the time Lily had finally made it back to Gryffindor tower, dinner had long been over. It had taken forever to go over all the details with the two house heads. Both had insisted on being told every last detail. Then, Lily had showed them the classroom on the third floor, both boys still locked inside, though the restraining spell had long worn off. They had found them both lounging on classroom tables, acting as if nothing had happened, though they did both look rather dishevelled.

After some brisk back and forth between the teachers and the two Slytherin boys, McGonagall and a rather baffled looking Professor Slughorn had decided to speak with the boys alone, interrogating one after the other, and Lily had been thanked for her actions and dismissed.

"There you are, I was wondering where you were." Lily had been just about to give the portrait of the fat lady the password when she heard Alice's voice. The petite witch was walking towards her, a plate of food balanced in her hand. Lily stared at the food hungrily, having now missed dinner as well. "Thought maybe you might have missed dinner so I brought you a little something."

"Merlin, Alice, you are a life saver!" Lily called out. Alice was truly the sweetest most caring person Lily knew. "I've just had the worst evening ever…"

* * *

 _ **Hey everyone, as always thanks so much for reading, and thank you to all those who reviewed, favourited and followed this story, that really makes my day!**_

 _ **As always, don't forget to follow, as I update weekly,**_

 _ **bye lovelies,**_

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	4. Keep Your Friends Close

**Keep Your Friends close…**

The great hall was buzzing with excitement that Saturday morning. Quidditch try-outs were set to happen that day and it was clear just how many Hogwarts students would try their luck. Ravenclaw had reserved the pitch first, then Gryffindor, Slytherin, and lastly Hufflepuff. Of course, quidditch was a favoured topic during the best of times, but with all the bad news pouring in from all over the country every day, it made for a welcome distraction. A sense of normalcy, even just for a little while.

As Lily walked into the great hall that morning, however, she barely noticed what was going on around her. She had had a spectacularly bad night of sleep, tossing and turning all the way till morning. Her mind had been so full, that she had been completely unable to switch it off. Needless to say, she was in a rotten mood.

"Lily, over here!" she could see Severus waving at her from the end of Slytherin table. Whenever they ate together, it was always there. The only place they would not be bothered by Slytherins who weren't all that happy to share their table with a Gryffindor girl. Of course, it was worse at the Gryffindor table. All the strange looks and stupid remarks had become so bothersome at times, that they had decided not to eat there together any longer.

Without waving back, Lily crossed the hall, occasionally making space for pairs of chatting students filling out in the opposite direction. With a huff, she dropped onto the bench across from her best friend, barely acknowledging him.

"Rough night?" he asked carefully as he reached for a bowel of strawberry jam in front of him. As they tended to be more or less alone at the end of the table, they never seemed to run out of food, which was an added bonus. Not that finding too little to eat was ever really a problem at Hogwarts.

"That obvious, is it?" Lily murmured, more to herself than to him. Picking up her cup, already filled with steaming earl grey tea. Her favourite. Severus knew her so well. It made her feel a little better.

"I mean I haven't really seen you at all since Ancients Runes yesterday…" Severus shrugged. Lily was only very rarely in a bad mood, but when she was, he knew to leave her be. It would do neither of them any good if he did not.

"I know, Sev, it was quite the long day I had yesterday." Thinking back on what had happened the night before, made her feel uneasy. She had been so angry, but now all that was left was a sickening hole in her stomach. That poor little boy had been at Hogwarts barely a week before he had fallen victim to those disgusting Slytherin bullies. Sure, he was safe now, but it would still be weeks till the effect of the Polyjuice Potion wore off. And that was without taking into consideration all the psychological damage the attack must have left him.

Lily let her half-eaten slice of toast drop back onto her plate, all her hunger gone.

"Alright, what happened?" Severus asked, sounding mildly concerned about her sudden lack of appetite. She probably looked quite awful, she thought. Lily had barely even brushed her hair before heading down to breakfast. She certainly hadn't looked in the mirror.

"Well I missed lunch because I had to help some first years and I missed dinner because…" Lily trailed off. She had only told Alice so far, and judging from the general good mood in the great hall, no one had really found out yet. If the older Hufflepuffs had known, surely there would be some sign of it, no? Perhaps some sense of tension between passing students, but there was none. Maybe it was better that way. Glancing up the row of tables and benches to where the Professors' table was located, Lily wondered if they had purposefully kept it that way. Whether they had perhaps made sure that none of what happened the night before would ever come out.

"Well, when I was on the way to the Prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor before dinner, I came across …" Lily trailed of. A boy wearing Slytherin robes had walked past them. At first Lily had paid him no attention. Just another student making his way up the table to join his friends for breakfast. It had only been when he had given Severus a friendly clap on the back in passing, that Lily had even realized who he was. Mulciber. That vile boy she had left bound in a classroom the night before, was now patting her best friend on the back as if they were themselves the closest of friends. Lily could feel rage bubbling up inside her as her eyes began to narrow. She was just about to say something when -

"Miss Evans, could I have a quick word?" Professor McGonagall's voice asked from behind her. Happy about the interruption she shot up out of her seat.

"Of course, Professor." Then she turned back to Severus, who was looking at her with a look of utter confusion. Surely, she was not in any trouble, he thought. Not Lily.

"I'll meet you in the library later, alright?" she blurted out, her tone sounding quite a bit harsher than she had intended. Severus nodded, looking slightly baffled.

Lily followed Professor McGonagall out of the great hall, through a crowd of students waiting in the entrance hall, up a flight of stairs and into her office. Lily had been there only once, during her second year, and yet she recognised it immediately. It looked exactly the same as it had back then. The same small study, bare and tidy. Minerva McGonagall was not a woman who kept around useless trinkets. It was cosy nonetheless, with a large fireplace and thick curtains draped over large windows. And hundreds of books, of course. Shelves of them lining almost every wall. Lily couldn't help but wonder if these where the same books that could be found in the school library, though she highly doubted it. McGonagall most likely had several unique treasures hidden away in this room. Oh, what Lily would have given to browse through them, perhaps even take a few with her.

With a wave of the Professor's wand, the giant fireplace erupted in flames, dousing the whole room in warm, yellow light. With another flick of her wand, a chair swooped past Lily and came to a rest across form McGonagall's own chair, looming behind a great oak writing table.

"Have a seat, Miss Evans." She directed, pulling out her own chair and sitting down in a composed manner. Almost startled by her Professor's voice, Lily quickly took the seat she had been offered.

"Why am here, Professor?" Lily had been so relieved to be spared from any kind of confrontation with her best friend, she had completely forgotten to wonder what McGonagall had even wanted to talk to her about.

"Biscuit?"

With a courteous nod, she reached out and grabbed a biscuit from a bowl McGonagall had produced from her top drawer. The tall witch eyed Lily through her square spectacles, as she bit into the dry sugary biscuit. Lily noted a slight look of concern on the older woman's face.

"What you witnessed last night, girl…" she shook her head, her composure lost for a second as her narrow lips tightened slightly. Lily had always thought very highly of her, and yet she had little idea of what was truly going on inside the other witch's mind. Adjusting her glasses with one hand, she sighed.

"Well I am sorry you had to see that, though you handled yourself very well, Miss Evans, I must say. Far superior to your age. And after consulting with our head master last night, I wanted to inform you of what will happen next."

Lily raised an eyebrow. If Professor Dumbledore had been involved, then the school was obviously taking the matter as seriously as she had hoped. Clearly, expulsion was the only option. Such ideology surely had no place in Hogwarts. Not during these times, when their actions could be interpreted as the act of radical pure-blood supremacists. Death Eaters, even.

"The school has been assured that what happened, was intended to be nothing more than a 'practical joke' and that such behaviour shall not be repeated. Professor Slughorn informed me that you have not yet discussed Polyjuice Potion and that the two Slytherin boys in question therefore did not know of the outcome and consequences of this potion when used in combination with animal hair. It was also their first offence during their time here."

Lily stared at her in complete disbelief. Surely, McGonagall was the one playing a joke. Not that the stern Professor was ever one to do so. And what was worse, Lily had seen Mulciber in the great hall just moments before, not a care in the world. Finally, it hit her. They would not be expelled. Would they go completely unpunished as well?

"Miss Evans, I can see you are clearly unhappy with this turn of events, however, I assure you this has not been taken lightly. Both students have been assigned five weeks of detention, 50 points have been deducted from their house each and their Hogsmeade privileges have been revoked at least until Christmas. This will also count as their first strike. One more step out of line, and they will both be expelled."

Detention and a few points taken from their house? That was hardly punishment enough for what they had done! Those boys had set out to harm another student, knowing fully well what their actions would do to the child. If this was somehow funny to them, then perhaps they were even more dangerous than she had all thought. Lily was about to protest, when Professor McGonagall interjected,

"Close your mouth, Miss Evans, or perhaps put another biscuit in it. This is the head master's final decision. Mercy and lenience. Second chances and improvement, those are all mottos of this school, and regardless if we believe that they have been judged fairly or not, this is how we must act, if we ourselves wish to remain above those who threaten our values every day now. We live in dark times, Miss Evans, and turning out students who may yet be shown the right path, will only aid them in convincing our enemies of our inaptitude and inherent misguidedness." McGonagall sighed. She was troubled by this situation, just as Lily was. But she was convinced, nonetheless, that this was the right thing to do.

Biting her lip, Lily thought about the Professor words. She was right of course, but that hardly made it any better. They did not deserve such kindness, even if keeping them in school and away from the darkness threatening to engulf this world was the better option.

"Professor… from what I have seen these boys do…" she trailed off, choosing her words carefully. "I think they might be past rehabilitation."

"Nevertheless, we must try, wouldn't you agree?"

Perhaps, Lily thought, and nodded slightly. McGonagall's little speech had undoubtedly left quite the impression on her.

"Good, then you may go, Miss Evans."

Remaining in her spot for moment, Lily made to get up. Her head was buzzing with unanswered questions and uncertainty.

"One more thing. The school would appreciate if the nature of last night's events were kept quiet. No need to cause unnecessary friction between students. As a Prefect, I am sure I can rely on you to do so."

"Of course, Professor." Lily nodded absentmindedly, her thoughts still on the topic they had discussed, and headed for the door. Her hand was already resting on the door knob when McGonagall stopped her once more,

"Also, Gryffindor will be awarded 15 points for your bravery last night. I always knew you would make a good Prefect, Miss Evans."

Blushing more than slightly, Lily turned around to thank her. "And thank you for informing me as well, Professor. About the Slytherin boys' punishment, I mean."

* * *

Once again, Lily absentmindedly wondered through the halls of Hogwarts. She simply could not shake the feeling that even though McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore of course, were right, it had been the wrong choice nonetheless. They want to show that they are morally above those that threaten us, she thought. But, perhaps they had also chosen to go with the option that permitted them to stay in control and watch over potential recruits for the Dark Lord's armies. Keeping the enemy close.

That was what they were starting to become, though, she thought. The enemy. Lily shuddered as she turned another corridor, heading towards the library. The idea frightened her. The possibility that someone who wished her and her friends harm could be lurking right around the corner. A fight just about to happen… Hogwarts had always felt like a safe place to her, but suddenly, this had begun to change. She had to talk to Severus about this. About what had happened at breakfast as well.

After a short walk, she reached the library, located not too far from McGonagall's office. Once inside, she nodded to madam Tenbris, the librarian, and Professor Flitwick talking in a hushed voice by the librarian's desk.

Knowing exactly where he would be, Lily headed further into the library. Passing the row on dragons, then walking through the magical mysteries section, and lastly turning into the law section of the library, Lily found Severus seated in one of the two big lime green armchairs they frequented.

Lily dropped into the empty chair next to her friend. With a huff, she took in the sweet smell of dust and old books that clung to the fabric of the seemingly ancient chair. It was an unforgettable aroma. Comforting to her.

Severus looked up as she sat down next to him and gave a crooked smile. A heavy book lay open on his lap, a quill in hand.

"What did she want?" he inquired. Looking at her sideways, twirling the quill between his fingers, he acted as if he wasn't bursting with interest.

"She wanted to inform me about a certain matter. It's what I wanted to talk to you about earlier…"

When she was done recounting what had happened, Severus was staring at her looking visibly uncomfortable, perhaps even torn. They were his housemates, but of course, she was his best friend. Lily could see how that might make him uncomfortable.

"Oh. I wanted to ask you earlier, you aren't friends with those boys, are you? Avery and Mulciber, I mean." Lily asked carefully, one eyebrow raised. "It's just because I saw Mulciber looking rather friendly with you this morning."

Severus' jaw tightened for a second, before he looked away. With his face now covered by his long black hair, Lily couldn't quite tell what he was thinking. She hoped this would not lead to another one of the little fights they seemed to be getting into more and more often these days. She hated fighting with him. Severus was her best friend after all, but she had to know.

"They are in my house. I have talked to them a few times. That's it." he eventually said, speaking strangely slow.

"They're not good people Sev…"

"So what? I can't exactly avoid them, they sleep in the same dorm as me. We have classes together." He snapped back at her.

"It was just a question Sev, you don't need to go biting my head off!" Lily crossed her arms. This was not the reaction she had hoped for.

"Sorry." Severus mumbled, still not looking at her.

"Me too…" Lily trailed off. Unhappy with how their day of studying was turning out, she added a quick, "What you reading then?"

"It that book I told you about. The one that's got a list of all the potions they could ask us to prepare during the OWLs." Severus sighed and closed the crumbling potions book. "It's a lot."

"Merlin, I forgot about that. Good that you found it again. We have our work cut out for us!"

"But if anyone is going to do it, it's us, no?" at that, they both smiled.

* * *

After breakfast on Sunday, Lily decided to go visit the little Hufflepuff boy she had delivered to the hospital wing. Though she was no longer quite so worked up about what had happened, she still felt almost guilty. Like there was more she could have done. Even if there really wasn't.

Lily had also wondered, if he too had been informed of his aggressors' punishment and what he thought about it. Was he angry, as well? Or was he too afraid of further harassment to protest? Either way, she felt she simply had to go and visit him.

"How can I help you, Miss Evans?" madam Pomfrey asked. Upon entering the infirmary and looking rather unsure or herself, the Hogwarts matron had appeared by her side almost instantly. She was a strict woman, to be sure, but she also had the kindest blue eyes Lily had ever seen. She truly cared about her young patients, that much had always been clear. Lily admired her greatly, wondering if she herself would be any good at being a healer.

"Um yes, I was wondering if I could visit Jason Ansel." Lily inquired, feeling slightly awkward.

"Ah. Yes, follow me!" Quickly, madam Pomfrey stalked off, heading towards the back of the infirmary where white curtains had been pulled around one bed. "Can't stay too long though. He needs to rest now."

Lily nodded and entered the little space behind the curtains. They were probably there for his modesty, she thought. To hide him from wandering eyes. Kept others from asking too many questions as well.

It was stuffy inside, with very little space. Just enough room for one bed, a chair and a nightstand. On the bed lay little Jason Ansel, his face and hands still just as hairy as they had been two nights before. However, Lily could have sworn his snout had gone back at least a little bit.

"Hello Jason, do you remember me? I am Lily Evans. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

The boy stared at her with slightly blood shot eyes. "I feel fine, I suppose. Madam Pomfrey says I'll have to stay for a while though…"

His voice sounded normal again, if slightly raspy as if he had been crying. Lily felt so terribly sorry for him.

"Can I sit with you for a bit? I brought you something, too." Lily placed a box of peppermint frogs on his nightstand. It was the only thing she had left from the train that hadn't yet been opened up or half eaten. "I know how awful the food here can be. Besides, chocolate makes everything better, right?"

* * *

An hour and one box of chocolates later, madam Pomfrey reappeared at Jason's bedside with a large bottle containing a thick grey liquid. The little boy groaned as he caught sight of it.

"I'm afraid it's time for another dose, Mr. Ansel." Madam Pomfrey said to him before adding, "Miss Evans, I think it's time for you to go." as she measured a small amount of the liquid in a cup.

"Alright." She sighed and got up. "Well, I'll head to the owlery then and get this letter to your parents." Over the course of the hour she had spent with the little first year, they had not only talked and shared a box of chocolates, but he had also dictated a letter for her. He had been afraid that his parents might be worried when they received a letter from Professor McGonagall telling them of what had happened to their son. They were both muggles, he had explained, and so they understood very little of what was going on. Lily had gladly done it for him, as he was still unable to hold a pen in his paw shaped hands.

"Thank you Lily, I'm really, really grateful!" He attempted to smile at her, though it was hardly possible with his strange new face shape.

"Don't even mention it!" Lily said, with a kind smile on her face. He was so small and feeble looking in his big hospital wing bed, that she could not help but feel protective of him. Such a sweet little child!

After promising him she would visit him again soon, Lily headed back out of the infirmary. As walked through the open door and out into the corridor leading to the other parts of the castle, she heard someone calling her name.

"Oy, Evans!" As always, the sound of that particular voice made her freeze in her tracks. Rolling her eyes, she turned around to face the sound of that voice, automatically crossing her arms with impatience. What she had not expected, was to find James Potter, lying on a hospital bed behind her. He looked rather awful, she noted. His clothing was torn and covered entirely in mud and he looked more dishevelled than she had ever seen him be. His left arm hang in a sling and his right leg was heavily bandaged.

He was hurt and clearly in pain. But then again, he had been well enough to call after her, so she was torn on what to say. "What'd you do, Potter? Fall off a tree and land in the mud face first?" She asked, her voice containing slightly less bite than usual.

"More like I took on a lion and two bears all on my own, right Moony?" For the first time, Lily noticed Remus sitting next to Potter. He didn't look so great either, though he seemed mostly unharmed. He looked pale and drained, with sunken cheeks and deep purple circles under his eyes.

"Don't look at me for help, James, I'm not nearly as good at making up stories as you are!" he chuckled lightly, though he looked concerned nonetheless.

"Me? Making up stories? Oh, the outrage!" he called out, sounding deeply hurt at the suggestion. Ignoring him, Remus turned to Lily and asked,

"You heading down to lunch? I'm starving!"

Lily shook her head, finding it hard to concentrate on what he was saying. What on earth had happened to them? And where was the rest of their stupid little gang? They were up to something and surely it wasn't anything good!

"No, I'm off to the owlery first, then down to lunch. Want to join me?"

Remus glanced back at the heavily protesting James Potter only once as they left the hospital wing. He knew he would have some explaining to do later. James would probably go green with jealousy.

"What happened to you two?" Lily asked after a few moments of silence. He seemed a little bothered by the question.

"Nothing un-prefectly of me, don't worry. Just a bit of trouble with a broomstick. He'll get some of madam Pomfrey's potions, and he'll be fine again by the evening!"

* * *

 _ **Hey everyone, hope you had a great week and that you enjoyed this new chapter. Next week is going to be a big one! Also, thank you to everyone who now follows this story, it really makes my day! :)**_

 _ **(same bla bla as always: if you like what you've read so far, don't forget to give this a follow because I update weekly!)**_

 _ **Bye lovelies,**_

 _ **Lady Macbeth98**_

 _ **(Also special thanks to Utantsano for your continued support, input and beta reading!)**_


	5. A Great Day in October?

A Great Day in October?

Time always passed quickly at Hogwarts. The first week was tough, but as soon as you got used to the routine of things again, it flew by in a flash. Before Lily knew it, October had rolled around. Like most fifth-year students not involved in quidditch, Lily had spent her days going to classes in the morning and studying with Severus in the library in the afternoon. Studying with a partner had always been helpful for them. Their secret weapon of sorts. They spent so much time in the library, more specifically, in their secret lime green armchairs, they would often joke that it had become more of a common room to them than the one they shared with their classmates.

In the evening, Lily often visited little Jason Ansel in the hospital wing. Luckily his hands had turned back quickly, so he could pick up his wand again, and Lily could help him practice his spells. He was terribly afraid of falling behind in his classes. Lily enjoyed spending time with him, even if it meant less time to study with Severus. Jason was a bubbly, talkative little boy and Lily had always wanted a little brother. Sure, she had her sister Petunia back home, but that wasn't the same. Petunia had no magic, and their relationship had been more than strained for ages. Lily hadn't received a single letter from her in a month. Not even a response to the two owls she had sent her.

Even patrol and prefects' meeting had eventually become routine. After the initial excitement of patrolling the many halls of Hogwarts during the night, it had grown boring as time went on. Although she and Remus had, against all odds, become something like friends, it was really rather tiresome most of the time. Nothing much ever happened. There were always a few younger students who needed sending to bed, and once they had even caught a couple of fourth-year Ravenclaws making out in a broom closet near the astronomy tower, but never anything that even remotely compared to what had happened with the Slytherin boys.

Things did happen, occasionally. Like, for example, fireworks going off in a hall on the fourth floor. Or the mysterious disappearance of an entire boy's lavatory, and its even more mysterious partial reappearance in several parts of the castle, including the Slytherin common room and Filch's office. The thing was, none of these incidents ever occurred on any of the Tuesdays Lily and Remus were on patrol. Needless to say, this was enough proof for Lily, that Potter and his gang of baboons must have been behind all of them. Initially, she had thought, that maybe they had enough good sense between them, not to slip out of their dorms at night when she was on the lookout, though she was not sure if she believed them intelligent enough for such high thinking. Perhaps, and this she thought was the more likely option, they were just saving up for something big. Something stupid and loud and annoying to clean up after. Something that would get them into heaps of trouble, and her another reason to hate the lot of them (excepted maybe Remus, who had really been growing on her).

So really, it was better that patrol was usually uneventful. At least that meant all was right and no one was misbehaving…

After her last assigned patrol with Remus, during the first week of October, he and Lily returned to Gryffindor common room completely drained. They had done nothing but walk around and talked for hours, absolutely nothing else happening. Talking with him was usually very pleasant. They found several topics to discuss amicably amongst themselves. It helped, of course, that Remus was smart enough to steer clear of anything regarding his friends.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade next weekend?" Remus had asked her as they climbed through the portrait hole. She hadn't really thought about it yet, though she did usually go. Plus, her and Severus had spent so much time studying, they deserved a break.

"Yes, I think Severus and I are going. You?" she asked as they crossed the long empty common room, the fire in the hearth burning low.

"Sure, I need to stock up on chocolate frogs again, my supplies have been repeatedly raided by… well, in the last few days." He retorted, careful not to name any names.

After saying goodnight to one another, they had then split up, heading to their own dormitory. Half expecting everyone to be asleep already, Lily tried to be very quiet. Upon entering the fifth-year girl's dormitory, though, she was surprised to find only two beds with their curtains drawn. The remaining three girls were nowhere to be found. Strange, thought Lily. It was already half past midnight, and she hadn't seen them down in the common room either.

Quickly, Lily changed out of her robes and darted to the bathroom to brush her teeth. The bathroom, however, was rather crowded, with Emmeline, Alice, and Dorcas all huddled around the sinks, talking in low voices.

Emmeline, a blond, terribly talented young witch, seemed to be informing the other two about something very exciting. Both Alice and Dorcas looked highly captivated.

As Lily entered the bathroom looking tentative as to what was happening, Emmeline smiled broadly at her. "Lily, you're back. You won't believe what I've just been telling them!"

"Why? What's happened?" Lily asked, possibly looking even more puzzled now. Alice chuckled lightly at how dramatic Emmeline was making the whole situation sound.

"I have a date for Hogsmeade next weekend!" Emmeline exclaimed with a big grin on her face. Lily let out a sigh of relief. Nothing bad had happened. Everyone was alright.

Mirroring everyones' smiling face, she congratulated her friend. "It's not with Aubery, is it? The one who sent you all those letters last year?" she added as she began to brush her teeth.

Bertram Aubery, a brown haired, mousy looking Ravenclaw boy, had had a crush on Emmeline all through their fourth year. He had done everything in his power to impress her, although she was practically twice his high and at least a year older than him. It would have been a huge surprise to Lily if she had actually agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him.

The general reaction was answer enough for Lily. "You must be joking! That little bugger? Certainly not! If I ever become that desperate, you all have my permission to hex me!" Emmeline exclaimed in horror, and the girls laughed.

"Alright, then who is it that's got you so excited?" Lily pushed, her mouth full of toothpaste and her interest rising. Emmeline was so pretty and easy going, the possibilities seemed rather endless all of a sudden.

"It's Sirius Black!" Dorcas burst out before Emmeline could extend the suspense any longer. Alice giggled and shoved her lightly, shaking her head.

Lily's face dropped slightly, replaced almost instantly by a frown. It was not that Sirius Black asking a girl out was so surprising. In fact he did so, with varying degrees of success, every other day it seemed. Nor was it surprising that he would ask out Emmeline. What surprised her, was how happy she seemed to be about it. There was no way that she had not heard all the stories that Lily had, about how Black treated the girls he dated. About how he never seemed to stick with one girl for more than a month or so. Surely, Emmeline herself must have witnessed at least one distraught and heartbroken girl, weeping in the common room about how she would never love again.

"Why are you making that face, Lily? I know you don't like Potter and his friends, but Sirius is _different_!" Emmeline said, a somewhat absent-minded smile on her face.

Rather than say something wrong, Lily chose to instead take her time rinsing out her mouth and cleaning her toothbrush. The longer she refrained from saying anything, the more awkward the situation became.

"Well…" Lily trailed off, looking at the other two girls for help. Perhaps, Emmeline was too blinded to see that gits true colours, but certainly, it was not the same for them. Alice gave her a shrug and a look that seemed to say 'just let her have it'. Dorcas on the other hand still looked rather excited.

"I think he's a nice guy. Plus, he's gorgeous!" she said in Emmeline's direction, who agreed hastily. "Maybe not as handsome as James Potter, but he… Well, he isn't interested in any of us, is he?" she added, chuckling at her own cleverness.

Lily ignored her jibe. "Well I won't pretend like I don't think they're both idiots and hardly worth any of our time, but if the idea of going out with him makes you this happy, then I am happy!" Lily offered, carefully.

"I agree with Lily. It's up to you whom you want to go out with and, sure, we'll always be protective of each other, but it's your life and your choice! Besides, you lot didn't like Frank either at first."

That was hardly the same, Lily thought. Frank Longbottom had come off as a little bit mellow and dorky at first. A real klutz. The complete opposite of cheerful, organized Alice Highmore. But after they had spent more time with him, they had noticed that Longbottom was in fact a very kind boy and that he truly and deeply cared for Alice.

Emmeline still looked unassured. Lily's reaction had visibly dampened her mood. "I'm sorry Emmi, I'm sure you'll have a great time with him!" Lily said with a big smile. "What will you do?"

Emmeline's face immediately lit up once more, and Lily was glad to see it. She was not a fan of any of this, but it really wasn't her place. Emmeline's happiness was obviously more important than her personal beliefs about Potter and his friends. She just hoped that he wouldn't end up hurting her.

"Madam Puddifoot's, of course!" she exclaimed once more sounding excited.

* * *

A few days later, Lily walked down the hill towards Hogsmeade with Severus. It was a chilly Saturday morning and both of them shivered as the wind blew cold moist air into their faces. Fall had painted the trees on each side of the road in beautiful colours and cooled the morning air drastically. The seasons changed quickly this far up north. Perhaps they would even have snow soon. Anything was better than the constant rain they had had back home…

Lily was happy to be out of the castle. She had barely been outside the previous few weeks. Studying, visiting Jason Ansel and her duties as a prefect had kept her far too busy.

It was only just noon, but Lily had already been up for hours. She had offered to help Emmeline get ready for her big date. And so, they had spent at least an hour debating what she should wear and how she should style her hair. In the end, they had gone with a pretty blue, woolly dress which brought out her eyes, paired with some of Lily's see-through black stockings against the cold. With a few quick spells, they had then enchanted her hair to look big and curly. She looked very beautiful, Black would doubtlessly be impressed.

Lily had enjoyed the experience. Except for Alice, none of the girls in her dormitory had been on any dates or anything like that. This was pretty much a first for all of them. Plus, she felt bad for how she had reacted the week before.

"Where are we going then?" Severus asked beside her. He wore a grey knit jacket, which was far too big on him. It had belonged to his father, but since his parents couldn't afford to buy him new clothes very often, he had been running around in it for the past two years. It made Lily a little sad every time she saw it. Perhaps she would buy him a new one for Christmas this year. At least that would be a useful gift, if a slightly boring one.

"I was thinking we could head to Honeydukes first, then walk around a bit and find somewhere nice to sit down. I made us some sandwiches at breakfast so we have something to eat later."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Even though it was early, Honeydukes had been terribly crowded and they were lucky to have made it back out with all their limbs attached. The first Hogsmeade weekend was always the busiest. Everyone was so excited, especially the third year students who were taking the trip for the first time.

Hogsmeade was a wonderful place, no doubt about it. It was one of the most picturesque little villages Lily had ever seen, and it was always so vibrant and full of life. There was just something so brilliant about having an entire town full of witches and wizards, where everyone could stroll around openly waving their wands and wearing their wizarding robes. Where children could zoom about on their brooms on the main street and no one gave it any second thought. It was just magical.

After walking about for a while, Lily and Severus could feel their stomachs begin to growl, hungry for the many sweets they had bought.

Talking amicably about the next Slug club meeting, they found themselves a nice spot just outside of Hogsmeade and up a little hill. From there, they had a marvellous view over the village to their right, and the creepy, run down cottage, known as the shrieking shack, to their left.

"It's lovely here, want to sit down?" Lily asked looking around at the scenic view. "You wouldn't happen to know a spell that could conjure us up a few blankets, would you?"

Severus drew his wand. "I don't know one that conjures them, but I do think I can turn something into one. _Stratumfors!_ " he recited, pointing his wand at a leaf lying on the floor. Immediately it began to grow and change in shape, until it had turned into a perfect picnic blanket large enough for both of them.

Lily cheered and clapped with a huge smile on her face. "That was fantastic, Sev! Did you just come up with that?"

Severus looked very pleased with himself and gladly accepted her congratulations. It was a rare thing to impress a witch like Lily Evans, especially with something as simple as this transfiguration.

"I knew the words and just gave it a try, I suppose" he shrugged, grinning back at her. "Don't know how long it will last, though... Better sit down quickly!"

They made themselves comfortable and Severus transformed a few more leaves into blankets to wrap around them. Warm and perfectly comfortable, they quickly ate their lunch before finally digging into their sweets.

"So, about the Slug club dinner, are we still going there together?" Severus asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, chewing on a Liquorice Wand. It was their second year in the exclusive Slug club, founded by their potions teacher, professor Slughorn himself. They had always had a good time there. Being among others who shared their enthusiasm for potion brewing was very enjoyable. For once, Severus could feel like he wasn't an outcast anymore. Well, with someone other than Lily, that was.

Every other month or so, professor Slughorn would hold a special, members only, dinner party, to which Lily and Severus had always gone together. It was quite an honour to be a part of such an event and besides, it had practically become their tradition.

"Well unless you've found yourself someone you would rather take, then I would be glad to!" Lily chuckled as she unwrapped her third chocolate frog in a row.

Severus eyed her questioningly from the side. As if he would ever want to go with anyone else but her. Surely, she knew that.

"Never, it's our tradition!"

"Alright then, it's settled." Lily said cheerfully, her mouth now full of chocolate. She handed him the other half of her frog to seal the deal, and he accepted readily.

After they had shared a box of Peppermint Fudge Flies and some Every-Flavour Beans, Severus stretched his legs out in front of him and Lily lay down on the blanket, resting her head in his lap. It was a wonderful feeling. Full to them brim with sweets and spending time with her best friend, it was really turning out to be a great day. Almost like back when they were kids…

"Hey, do you remember back when we were kids, we would always hide out under that big willow tree? The one up on Ludlow hill?" Lily smiled up at him, fondly remembering their shared childhood.

"Of course…" Severus said with a mirrored smile appearing on his own face. She had been so beautiful then, he thought, and she was just as beautiful now. "It's where we first talked about Hogwarts and Quidditch."

"And you showed me a moving photograph for the first time! You had cut it out of your mothers latest Daily Prophet for me. Cause I didn't believe such things were real."

"Oh yes, I remember… Wow, she was so mad at me for that! It was an article about anti-aging magic or something useless like that and she had saved it to read later. My bad!" they chuckled a little at that even though they both knew it had never been easy for Severus back home. At least his mom getting angry was not nearly as dangerous as his dad getting mad was.

"You know, I think have that paper somewhere, if she still wants it." Lily offered to lighten the mood.

"I think she might be past all hope now." Sev retorted jokingly, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Either way, why were you thinking about Ludlow hill?"

"This just reminded me of back then. Even without that willow tree…"

"Almost reminds me more of the playground down by Stone street. We did our first magic together there. Set a whole pile of sticks on fire. Took us week as well!"

Lily closed her eyes, thinking back. She could almost see the old place. The run down playing structures and the smell of the muddy river that flowed next to it. That place would always be her home, her safe place. "It was the first magic I had done on purpose. Sort of, anyway. I had always just let it do whatever it wanted to, not what I wanted. Like with the flowers, you know? I just had this feeling and let it take over me…"

"Well you were always special, as I could already tell back then." Severus said leaning back and regarding her with his head tilted to the side.

Lily blushed slightly, her face turning the colour of her hair. It felt strange to accept praise or complements from others. She didn't know how to respond to it properly. "So were you though, Sev."

After a moment of relaxed silence, Lily sat back up and stretched her arms. "You know, Sev, I still feel like that, sometimes. Like I just get this feeling and switch to auto-pilot. When I'm working on a potion for example. Especially if it's a tricky one. It's like a puzzle that needs solving, or something… I think I want to do something more with that. When we finish school, I mean."

Severus nodded enthusiastically. "I know that feeling. Like what though?"

"Maybe become a healer? Or an apothecary. Or maybe I'll just work for the ministry in some way. I hear they need more and more help everyday now." Lily said thoughtfully. "What about you Sev? What would you like to do after school ends?"

After taking a long moment to think about his answer, he finally replied; "I think I might like to do something with potions as well. Or maybe something to do with defence against the dark arts, you know? Like become an auror, maybe. I don't know…"

"I think that's brilliant, Severus, you are so talented with spells! Made up any new ones lately?"

"Working on one, but it-"

A loud noise interrupted him. Coming from just behind them, it sounded like a muffled explosion and people arguing in loudly. Quickly, they both scrambled to their feet to see what the ruckus was about.

A small group of people seemed to be moving towards them. Two of them wore black hoods, hiding their faces from view. Three more men, all wearing ordinary wizarding robes, had their back to them. It was hard to make out from the distance, but after a moment Lily realized that all of them had their wands drawn, each pointing it at the other, ready to fight. They were about to duel, Lily thought, her stomach churning violently.

Baffled and suddenly terrified, Lily and Severus looked at each other, frozen where they stood.

And that was how they had missed it. The first sparks going off. The first curses flying between the wizards down the hill. It was like the world was suddenly moving in slow motion and when they finally looked back at what was unfolding beneath them, it was too late.

The last thing Lily saw was a bright surge of orange light, and then everything went black. The last thing she could feel was her body buckling under her own weight, unable to do anything about it…

* * *

 ** _Hullo guy, because Lily and James' 36 death day is coming up next week (cry!), and this chapter ended on a cliff hanger, I have decided to post the next chapter on Halloween. In just 4 days oh god what am I doing? Ahh. Anyways, I hope you'll all tune in again (tune in? idk...) then and find out what happened to Lily..._**

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	6. Dark Curses

**Dark Curses**

 **or**

 **A Heart of Jell-O**

For what felt like an eternity, there was only darkness. Drifting in and out of various states of consciousness and a constant feeling of detachment. Of floating without a body to anchor her down.

The first thing that came back, was a sense of feeling. Lily could feel a comforting warmth around her and as soft pressure pushing down on her. Perhaps a blanket. Soon it drifted away again.

Next, was sounds. Lily could hear things going on around her, though she didn't understand any of it. The noises of people talking, walking past, perhaps even crying, washed over her without leaving a mark. That too drifted away once more.

Then, suddenly, everything rushed in at once. It was like someone had turned on a light inside her brain. Like being ripped from peaceful dreams by a screaming alarm clock.

With terrible effort, she opened her eyes, at once blinded by bright sun-light. After a painful moment of letting her eyes adjust to it, Lily looked around. She felt confused and disorientated. Where was she? What had happened?

It took Lily a moment to realize where exactly she was. The hospital wing. She had only recently been here to visit little Jason, she thought. But that wasn't it. Judging from the fact that she herself was tucked into a hospital beds, she was a patient too now. But why? What was wrong with her? She felt terribly weak, for sure. Like her every bone was made of lead and holding her firmly in place. But there was nothing else. No pain, no strange sensations, no casts or bandages…

Lily's eyes darted around the large hall, panic growing inside her. Only two other beds were filled and Jason's screen had disappeared from the back corner. Had he been discharged so soon? The only other two students there, their beds across from hers and a little way over to the left, talked quietly. Two girls, both likely older than her. They took no notice of Lily, as if she had somehow become part of the scenery to them. Lily wanted to call out to them, but her mouth would not move and her throat felt too dry to make a sound. Oh God, what was wrong with her?

Looking around the room once more, Lily caught sight of the night stand next to her bed. It would not have stood out on its own, but it did now. It was covered in colourful boxes, bags and tins of candy. At least 15 of them were crammed onto the tiny white night stand. Lily could see Chocolate Frogs, Ice Mice and even Fizzing Whizzbees, which she hadn't eaten in years. Rolled up next to the pile was a Daily Prophet. Why would there be this many sweets on her night stand? She could not remember buying quite so many back at Hogsmeade.

 _Hogsmeade_! Yes, that's where she had been. Buying sweets at Honeydukes with Severus and then a picnic on the hill… But what the blood hell had happened after that? Why couldn't she remember?

Perhaps the Daily Prophet held some of the answers, why else would it have been placed there. Lily _had_ to get a hold of it.

Determined to take a look at it, Lily attempted to push herself up in her bed. She strained against her own weight, exerting as much power as she could. It was no use. She could barely lift herself more than an inch.

"Merlin's beard, Miss Evans, your awake at last!" a soft voice sounded at the foot of her bed. "Oh, thank God!"

The Hogwarts matron swiftly walked around Lily's bed. She pressed a cool hand against Lily's brow, nodded swiftly, then took her pulse. Lily stared at her, still unable to speak. Panicking once more she opened and closed her mouth rapidly to show that she simply couldn't make a sound.

"Calm yourself, Miss Evans, everything is perfectly alright! It will take a while for you to gain back full control over your body!" Madam Pomfrey said in a soothing voice and squeezed her hand a little. "Did you feel that?"

Lily nodded slightly. Even that tiny movement took all her strength. She felt more drained than she ever had.

"That's good! You're making great progress. You'll be back on your feet in no time. Here, drink this!" she added a few drops of a pink liquid to a cup of water, then pressed it to Lily's lips. After taking a few sips of the richly smelling solution, Lily could feel her eyes getting heavy.

"Rest now, dear. We will talk when you wake…" and with that, everything drifted away once more.

* * *

This time, there was no darkness. This time, Lily had a bright vivid dream. In her dream, she was back home in Cokeworth, playing hide and seek with her sister Petunia and Severus. They were children again and all seemed right with the world. They got along wonderfully and when Lily and Severus had held hands for a second, it had even begun to snow, and Petunia had congratulated her. She hadn't been mad at all.

It was a wonderful, charming dream. The kind Lily never had, or at least never remembered…

"…and besides, he really isn't such a bad guy!" a voice interrupted Lily's dream, just as she had been about to throw a snowball at Severus' head.

"Well… he's always been nice to me at least. Him and Padfoot. Oh and Moony of course, but then you don't seem to mind him too much these days…"

It took Lily a while to fully come to once more. She opened her eyes and immediately wanted to close them again. She was still in the hospital wing. It hadn't been a dream. There really was something wrong with her and she still didn't know what. At least she felt much less weak now. Still heavy and tired and aching to go back to her lovely fairy tale dream, but not quite so drained as before.

Lily searched for the source of the voice that had so rudely pulled her from her dream land. A short, chubby boy, with mousy brown hair stood next to her bed. He was half turned away from her as he spoke. He seemed to be rearranging the large pile of sweets on her little table. The Daily Prophet that had rested there early was now stuck under the boy's arm to make space for even more sugary treats.

Before Lily could think about how nothing had worked before, she reached out and grabbed the newspaper from under his arm. The boy jumped and whirled around. Now Lily recognized him, it was Peter Pettigrew. One of Potter's marauder friends. Though to be fair, the least threatening one.

"You're awake" he squeaked. "Nearly gave me a heart attack, too! I'll get Madam Pomfrey." Quickly he scurried off in the direction of the matron's office.

Lily barely even noticed what he had said. She was far too busy staring down at her hands which now firmly clutched the newspaper. She could move again. Slowly she turned her hands around and wriggled every finger separately. Not being able to move had felt like being trapped under water. Now, she felt as though she could finally breath again.

Then something else caught her eye. The date printed in little golden letters at the top of newspaper. Thursday the 7th of October, 1965. Thursday the 7th? But how could that be? It had only just been Saturday the 2nd and now it was the 7th? Was it really possible that she had been out cold for _five_ whole days?

She had been so engrossed in what was written at the top of the page, Lily had completely overlooked the main headlines. Dread filled her stomach as she read the beginning of the first article. "Two wizards dead, one muggle-born Hogwarts student left injured after Saturdays terrifying Death Eater attack on Hogsmeade village… the dark-mark was left at the scene." The accompanying picture frightened Lily the most. It was the image of a glittering green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth dancing in the air above Hogsmeade. _His_ mark. Voldemort.

"Miss Evans, how wonderful that you are once more fully with us. You must be awfully confused… but then who wouldn't be…"

Lily dropped the newspaper in her lap and found herself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes, wearing half-moon spectacles.

"P-Professor Dumbledore" Lily croaked, blushing at how silly her voice sounded. Like she hadn't used it in years. Madam Pomfrey appeared next to him.

"Albus!" she said, sounding slightly surprised. "I was just about to send for you…"

"Yes my dear, I thought I would spare you the trouble."

Madam Pomfrey nodded swiftly, as if nothing Albus Dumbledore did surprised her anymore. Lily on the other hand was not at all certain what to think. Was there bad news? The Daily Prophet had only mentioned one Hogwarts student, presumably her, though she still couldn't remember. Was there someone else? Severus?

"Ah, your fellow students have brought you plenty to eat, I see." Dumbledore went on, chuckling at the mountain of sweets next to her bed, entirely ignoring her baffled expression.

"I brought the Pink Coconut Ice!" a voice squeaked from behind the two adults. Peter Pettigrew poked his head out from between them. "From James, that is."

"How kind!" Dumbledore responded smiling at the boy next to him. "Mr Pettigrew, would you mind coming back later, I would like to have a quick chat with Miss Evans here and then I am sure she would love to devote her full attention to you."

Lily raised an eyebrow at the mousy haired boy. She couldn't remember ever exchanging more than three words with him over the past years. They weren't exactly friends. Pettigrew blinked at Dumbledore for a moment, obviously thinking the same thing.

"That's alright, Professor. I was just sent to drop those off… and make sure Lily knows who sent them… James Potter that is… There's are card there too… Well… Get well soon!" he stammered, flushing bright red and then quickly dashing from the hospital wing.

"He walks very fast for his height…" Dumbledore noted, looking after the plump Gryffindor student.

"Sir… Is it Severus?" Lily asked, her entire body still tense. She didn't know what she would do if something had happened to him. He was her best friend in the world, even if they argued sometimes.

Dumbledore looked down at her kindly. "Mr Snape is perfectly alright, Miss Evans. Not to worry! In fact, it appears he was quite the hero last weekend!"

"Oh yes, he brought you to safety and then carried you almost all the way back to Hogwarts, it seems. It was quite the turmoil you see! People running everywhere in panic, teachers shouting, well… An awful mess, the whole thing… Such a tragedy! It's a miracle so few students were harmed…" Madam Pomfrey interjected, a look of sorrow etched on her face. For the first time, she looked almost old to Lily. Tired even. "Either way, the boy came to visit you every day since then. Wouldn't budge till I had to throw him out at night. A lot of your friends came by." She added with a nod towards her nightstand.

A look of shock was clear on Lily's face. She still couldn't remember what had happened. Some kind of attack. And Severus had saved her… It was all too much!

"What exactly happened, sir?" she asked as smoothly as she could, her voice cracking nonetheless.

"You don't remember?" Dumbledore said looking slightly taken aback. "Oh how extraordinary. The mind has a power all of its own, my dear, it never ceases to amaze me. So fickle. Sometimes it chooses to remember only what it deems worthy… Well, I will tell you plainly what has happened, because you and all students deserve to know. Like the Prophet there must have mentioned, there was an attack on Hogsmeade, carried out by four of Lord Voldemort's followers. We believe it was meant to cause a maximum amount of destruction. Luckily, the brave a vigilant people of Hogsmeade were able to stop them, though at great cost."

Lily took in his every appalling word. It was true then, people had died. Good, innocent people. And she had come so close to being one of them. The Death Eaters had already killed hundreds of people, but never had it been so close by. The mere fact that they dared strike so close to Hogwarts was absolutely horrifying. How long until they would try again? How long until they would attack Hogwarts itself?

"These are harrowing times." Madam Pomfrey concluded, shaking her head.

"Indeed, they are, Poppy. But all hope is not lost!"

"But Professor, Madam Pomfrey, what happened to me? Why am _I_ here?"

Patiently, they explained to her what had happened. About how Severus and she had happened upon a group of Death Eaters standing off against a group of wizards who lived in Hogsmeade. It must have all happened very fast, as she was then hit by some kind of sleeping curse which caused her to fall into a comma for several days. Without rapid magical intervention, made possible only by Severus' actions, she may never have woken again.

A pit had formed in Lily's stomach, the size of a volcano. There had only been one other time when she had felt as helpless as she did in that instance. Back when her home was under attack and there was nothing she could have done to help her family. Lily bit her lip, afraid it might begin to wobble.

"It is alright to show that you are afraid, dear. It is when we are afraid that we find what strength truly lies within us. Never forget that!"

After a short while later, the headmaster had left her bedside and Madam Pomfrey had returned to thoroughly examining her. After she too was satisfied, Madam Pomfrey had told her to rest and that she would be back to normal soon.

When the matron had left, Lily was left alone with her thoughts once more. It was all so awful. A confusing mess of emotions fought within her. With her face buried deep inside her pillow, Lily cried quietly, heavy tears soaking the white linen. She did not know what else to do.

There was only one person she wanted to see now. The person who had quite possibly saved her life. Hurriedly, Lily pushed herself up inside her bed, whipped away the tears and looked around for her wand. After a moment of dizzy searching, she founded it.

They had perfected the technique of sending each other secret messages during their second year already. It was a simple charm and the other person saw the message dancing in the air in front of them.

Some 15 minutes later, a breathless Severus rushed into the hospital wing. When he caught sight of her, his whole face lit up as he ran over to her.

"Oh thank God!" he whispered as he hugged her tightly. Lily hugged him back as much as she could. Having him there made her feel a thousand times better.

After he let go to look at her, Lily smiled at him weakly. "You're my hero, I hear."

The black-haired boy blushed profoundly. "I didn't do anything, really. I should have seen that curse coming. I should have been faster, I –"

"Stop it, Sev!" Lily said, taking his hand in her own. "Don't talk like that. You were brilliant from what I heard, and I want to thank you for that!"

* * *

Late at night, when she was alone in the hospital wing, Lily had found it. The card Pettigrew had been going on about. She had remembered it as she was trying to fall asleep and having thought of it once, of course meant she just couldn't go to sleep before she had read it.

It wasn't really a card. It was more of a folded piece of parchment with a moving stick figure drawing on the front. The scene depicted was of a boy wearing a Gryffindor scarf flying on a broom stick with a red-haired girl watching him from below. The boy then handed her a flower and she climbed onto the broom and they flew out of sight together. Lily sighed. It was rather well done. Magic wise at least. Must have taken a while, too. Certainly longer than the poem written on the inside of the card. It read:

Roses are red,

Violates are blue,

Lilys (I think) are yellow,

I just wanted to tell you, you make my heart turn to Jell-O

Get better soon

So you can eat it with a spoon

(as in go out with me!)

Even being in a coma hadn't stopped that boy. He was truly the most irritable, stupid boy she had ever met! Still, she smiled a little.

* * *

It took another week and two days for Madam Pomfrey to declare Lily fully recuperated. By then, Lily was itching to get back to her classes. Solely relying on other peoples' notes, was hell for someone as meticulous as herself. Alice was smart, efficient and wrote in a wonderfully legible handwriting, but still. It just wasn't the same, though Lily was every bit thankful for the help.

Studying in bed was awfully tedious, but it helped that her friends visited her regularly. Severus most of all. Many people came by, in fact. Not just her friends, but also people she barely knew, like Hector Travers and Vivian Price (head boy and girl of Hogwarts) and Sarah Butrose, a Ravenclaw girl from Lily's astronomy class. Most of them, of course, truly cared for her wellbeing, but others, she expected, came by only to stare. It wasn't every day you got to catch a glimpse of someone who had survived a Death Eater attack. They all just wanted to know what had happened. How she had survived. It made sense that they would, but still she gave them all the same kind of answer. _I don't remember_ _… It's all a blur_ _… If it weren't for Severus_ _… I was really lucky_ _…_

Even though she continued to stick with this story, the statements soon became a lie. In reality, she eventually began to get back much more of her memory than she let on. It had all begun to come back when Madam Pomfrey had stopped administering the pleasant slumber potions to her at night. Right away, the calm soothing dreams had stopped, replaced by restless tossing and turning. When she did sleep, her dreams were disorientating and tumultuous. At first, she had written them off as her mind playing tricks on her. Perhaps trying to fill in the gaps with made up stories. But that wasn't it. The same dreams came again and again, each time feeling more real than the time before. The most distinct dream was her memory of the attack. Over and over she saw that bright flash of orange light, felt it hit her in the pit of her stomach like a punch. In her dreams, everything dissolved before her eyes and she was plunged into a cold dark nothingness. More than once, Lily had woken from these nightmares drenched in cold sweat, fear still gripping her tightly.

There were a few other things that came back in the same way as well, however. Things that she couldn't quite place. As if it wasn't her memory at all, though Lily knew that it must have been. It was little flashed of images and noises. Voices without faces. Perhaps, she thought, they were things she had heard while she was asleep for all those days.

One such snippet was a boy's voice, talking in a low sombre tone. Every time his voice appeared in her dreams, she strained to understand what he was saying, but couldn't. All she ever remembered when the dream had passed, was how sad and broken his voice had sounded. Had it been Severus? Lily simply didn't know.

There was one other set of voices that she could remember clearly. In her dreams, she would often hear them talking. A man and woman discussing something that must have been very serious. Again and again, Lily heard the man say:

"The order must be informed about this… They have gone too far this time!"

To which the female voice responded:

"We must use their recklessness to our advantage. We mustn't waste time on this. I will head over to Alastor's now. We'll meet at the factory."

* * *

 ** _Happy Halloween my fellow witches and wizards!_**

 ** _A sad day, of course, knowing the history... But I hope reading this chapter, where everyone is still alive and well, makes it a little better. I wanted to thank all the lovely amazing people who have been leaving me such wonderful reviews! Im really glad people are actually reading and enjoying this! Thank you._**

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**

 ** _P.S. back to regular posting schedule next week ;) hope to see ya then!_**


	7. Stupid, Uncalculated Behaviour

**Stupid, Uncalculated Behaviour**

"WELCOME BACK!"

several voices shouted as Alice helped Lily through the portal hole. Walking all the way from the infirmary had been exhausting for her. She had barely been on her feet at all for two weeks and her legs felt stiff and tired. Once she saw them all standing there, however, that all went away. All her Gryffindor friends (along with some other students) had gathered in the common room. Marlene and Emmeline were even holding up an old bed sheet, featuring a big red "welcome home" sign on it.

"Merlin's beard, what!?" Lily said barely believing her eyes. She had not anticipated this at all. In fact, she had half expected all of them to be out watching the quidditch match, but here they all were. Smiling and waving as if she was a soldier returning from war.

"Anything for our wounded puppy!" Mary exclaimed running towards her and hugging her tightly. Lily hugged her back, needing the support as she was beginning to feel light headed. Next came Dorcas, then Emmeline and lastly Marlene, each embracing her fondly. Remus too came over to them smiling and greeting her with a slightly awkward hug and a few words of welcome. Others came as well, shaking her hand, patting her on the back, asking how she was doing.

"Alright everyone, let her sit down, will you?" said Alice jokingly after a little while, then led her to a big comfortable sofa.

The girls, Frank Longbottom, Remus and some others settled down around her, as the other Gryffindor students started to file out. "They're all heading down to the quidditch pitch, right?" Lily asked after a moment, almost feeling bad that they all seemed to be staying just for her.

"I'd expect so, it's Gryffindor vs. Slytherin today!" Remus offered with a shrug. "It's James' first game as captain. He told me to tell you, that that's the only reason he isn't here himself to greet you. Not that you would have wanted that or anything…"

"No thanks, after that ca…" she trailed off, not sure if she wanted to bring it up. It was bad enough that he would take the piss and try to annoy her even when she wasn't feeling well, she didn't need them all joking about it as well now. Quickly she went on, "I mean no, of course not! I'm really glad to see all of you though!"

They all looked at her suspiciously for a moment. She wasn't fooling anyone, they probably all knew anyways. Potter had probably boasted about his little joke to all of them while she was in the hospital wing. Plus, Remus surely must have known.

"Ah… yeah… We're really glad your finally back now. We were really worried about you, you know." Alice broke the silence first.

"Yeah, Alice is right. You really scared us there!" Emmeline said. She had a thoughtful look on her face. Lily gave her a small smile.

"Well I'm alright now!" she said to her friend, feeling deeply touched by how much they cared for her. "Thank you so much for all your help over the past week and thank you so much for all this! Gosh you're going to make me cry!"

"Don't cry or I will as well." Emmeline called out.

"Yes, let's all cry together!" Marlene interjected and they all laughed.

"Well as lovely as that sounds, I really have to get down to the field. James would quite literally murder me if I didn't show up for his first game as captain!" Remus spoke up after a moment, getting ready to leave.

"You should all go watch the quidditch match if you'd like. I'll be fine here and I don't want you to miss out!" Lily added, signing for them all to get up and go.

"You sure you don't mind, Lily? I mean I'm sure we can all just go another time." Dorcas said, though she didn't look all that happy about it.

Lily nodded quickly in response, "I'm sure, you should all go!"

"Well… I do want to go see Sirius play…" Emmeline said, going a little red.

After a minute or two of back and forth, they all got up and headed down to the game. Only Alice and Frank stayed behind with Lily, refusing to leave her side. Lily was grateful for it. It had been quite lonely in the infirmary, even with all her friends visiting all the time.

"Do you need anything? Anything we can get you?" asked Alice.

"No thank you! I don't know how I deserve friends like you…" Lily shook her head. She was speechless at her dear friend's dedication. Alice was the kindest person Lily knew, and her oldest friend at Hogwarts, but still, what she had done went above and beyond. "I'm so glad to be back here!"

"I completely understand that! Back in third year I caught the Black Cat Flu and had to stay at the infirmary for an entire month. Madam Pomfrey is great and all, but the hospital wing at Hogwarts was not made for long stays, that's for sure!" Frank Longbottom spoke up for the first time and offered her a kind knowing smile.

Lily nodded in agreement. "Oh yes, I think I remember that! Everyone was afraid they would be next to catch it… But all your family still came to see you, didn't they?"

Frank went a little red. "Yes. Even though I asked them not to…"

"I think it's nice! Not every family would do that for theirs. I mean my parents would always come by, but my cousins, aunts and uncles? No way!" Alice looked at him thoughtfully as if she didn't quite understand what he was on about. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure even my parents would come these days. They're always so busy now!"

Lily bit her lip. Her parents had only been able to come to visit her once. They were hard working people and things were always more difficult when your parents were muggles. They couldn't just floo in through their fireplace in Cokeworth.

But something else was on her mind. "Your parents are both aurors, right Alice? And your dad is one as well, no?" She added in Franks direction.

Both of them nodded in response, a grim expression appearing on their faces. Lily knew why, of course. Being an auror was a dangerous job during the best of times, but with the war going on… Well, she was certainly glad her own parents were both teachers and not directly involved in the fighting.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up, but there is something I have been really needing to talk to someone about and I think you two might be the most likely to know what is going on." Said Lily tentatively. She wasn't sure she was doing the right thing by telling them, but it was starting to eat away at her. Besides, if there was anyone worth telling, it was them. Not just because they both had parents who worked at the ministry, but also because Lily knew they were both itching to work as aurors themselves as soon as they were done with school. Still, she was choosing her words carefully.

"A lot of the things that happened… Well, they've been coming back to me." Lily explained, telling them about the voices she had heard while she was still in a coma.

After listening to her closely, Alice looked puzzled "The order? What do you think that means?"

"I don't know. All I know is that someone named 'Alastor' is somehow involved in it, and that they were going to presumably take actions against the Death Eaters after the attack on Hogsmeade two weeks ago." Lily said with a helpless shrug.

Frank looked at them with a strange look on his face, as if he knew something, but wasn't sure if he should share it. "Well… If I remember correctly, there is an auror named Alastor Moody. He's been to our house once or twice. With my father that is. He told me Moody is one of the best aurors of the entire department!"

"Alright, so he may be a high-ranking auror. That still doesn't explain what exactly this 'order' is." Alice said, both girls looking at him disbelievingly.

"But what if it does?" Frank went on, looking more and more excited by the second. "What if, there is some kind of secret group, an 'order', made up of high ranking aurors, there to fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers? Maybe they're not just aurors either, but all sorts of people? Maybe even students like us!"

"And you get all that from what I just told you?" Lily asked not seeming entirely convinced, though she was starting to feel excited as well.

"Lily is right, Frank. We can't possibly know that for sure."

"We can! All we have to do is check the Daily Prophet for news. Lily, you remember the voice saying that they would use 'this' to their advantage and strike back, yes? Well if they did then there is bound to be some record of it on the news. Alice love, do you still have today's paper?"

Alice being Alice, had of course kept it. To their great disappointment, however, the Prophet made no mention of any kind of win _against_ the Death Eaters. There was a report of a muggle school being burnt down, but nothing else. They had decided that perhaps it had all gone down a week ago or so, since that was when she had probably heard it. They would have to do some further investigating, that much was sure.

A little while later, Lily had excused herself and left the two excitedly talking, to lie down upstairs. She felt so drained again. Still, when she lay down, it was all circling in her head, keeping her awake for a long time. There was only one thing she knew for sure and that was that whoever this group, this order, where, they were fighting against Lord Voldemort and Lily would do everything in her power to find them. She had to do something.

* * *

It was past sunset when Lily was abruptly woken from her sleep. A loud array of noises had torn her from a rather restless dream she had been having. One she was not too unhappy to have been awoken from.

When she opened her eyes, it was dark inside the dormitory. She was still alone. Where was everybody?

A mixture of noises came from downstairs, Lily noted. From the common room most likely. It sounded like muffled music and loud talking.

Grabbing a vest to throw over her shoulders, she left the girls dormitory and headed back toward the common room. She realised immediately what was going on. The game of course! She had completely forgotten about it, and now Gryffindor had won from the looks of it. They were having a party right there in the common room and everyone seemed to be there. First years, the quidditch team, everyone. Everyone except for her, that was.

Lily was unsure of what to do. Standing at the top of the stairs, she could see her friends spread out across the room. Dancing, drinking, laughing. She wondered where they had gotten all the alcohol from that was loaded onto one of the tables pushed against the back wall. The marauders were probably involved in it, she thought.

And there he was. Lily's eyes landed on Potter. Clearly, the man of the hour, he was still wearing part of his quidditch uniform. Surrounded by his friends and dotting fans alike, he was loudly telling them about something Lily couldn't quite make out over the noise of the room. A cockerel boasting to a group of chickens, she thought with utter disgust. The way he seemed to ooze overconfidence and cockiness made her want to hurl.

"Lily! I was just about to come get you. Were you sleeping?" Emmeline's voice came from bellow. Too late to go back and hide, Lily thought.

"Yes, just had a bit of a rest. Must have dozed off…" Lily mumbled as her friend reached her at the top of the stairs.

"You coming down then? We won, did you hear?!" she said sounding overly excited. "Oh, you should have seen it! Sirius was brilliant! He so good at everything!"

Lily chuckled a little. She was glad Emmeline seemed to be happy with her new 'boyfriend', though it was hard to get used to it. Ever since he had gallantly offered to protect her at Hogsmeade that weekend, she seemed to be entirely smitten with him. "Potter was good too, but Sirius…"

"I'm sure it was great. Slytherin must be crushed after winning the house cup last year." Lily said, thinking of Severus. He cared about as much about quidditch as she did, and yet it still always felt strange to have to support opposite teams.

"Who cares, we won!" Emmeline exclaimed. It was only then that Lily noticed how tipsy she was. Emmeline was swaying slightly and clinging onto the railing.

"Alright then. How about we get you some water?" Lily asked, sounding amused but also a little concerned. She herself was feeling much better after sleeping.

"No! Gryffindor is in the lead, we're celebrating. No need for water. Let's get you something to drink though. After all that time in the hospital, you need to have some fun!" Emmeline said. She grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her down the stairs with surprising strength. Before Lily could so much as make a noise, Emmeline had pulled her across the room through the crowed and shoved a drink in her hand. Lily took a sniff of it. It smelled of some sort of fruit juice mixed with a strong alcohol. Firewhisky most likely.

"I don't think I should be drinking that. I still have to take some potions from Madam Pomfrey and-"

"I'll take that, thank you!" James Potter made to take the drink out of Lily's hand. Quickly she pulled away. She was certainly not going to let James Potter take something away from her. Not even something she didn't want in the first place. It was a matter of principle.

"No you won't!" she said and took a big demonstrative gulp. Emmeline cheered as she did so.

"Sorry 'bout that, thought you didn't want it. My bad." Potter said with a raised eyebrow, his smug grin returning once more only a few seconds later. "Did you get my letter by chance?"

Lily narrowed her eyes. She had been hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't bring it up. It was all a game to him, she thought. He thinks he can torment me for his own amusement and that of his friends, though they did not seem to be around.

"No. I didn't." she answered a little too quickly, unable to think of a better response. Of course, this did not escape Potter's notice.

"You're sure about that? I had Peter bring it to you and he said you got it. Besides, if you didn't I can just tell you what it said here and now. Wrote you a poem and everything!" retorted Potter sounding highly amused. He ruffled his hair with his hand. A move he no doubt thought was the most endearing, charming thing ever.

"No need!" Lily responded, her face starting to turn red. How was she possibly going to escape this situation?

"Ah, yes please!" Emmeline interjected sounding far too interested for Lily's liking.

"No, don't! I don't want to hear it again and neither do you, Emmeline!" Lily said and took another swing from her cup before thinking about the consequences. "Let's go."

Without waiting for a response, she dashed off into the opposite direction, even though she could hear them both calling after her.

After finishing her cup, Lily felt dangerously dizzy. It was not like her to do stupid, uncalculated things. She suddenly felt as if the room was spinning and turning unbearably hot at the same time. Moving along the wall, past rows of tutting paintings, Lily made her way out of the crowded common room. It took a lot of shoving to make it to the portrait hole. When it finally swung open, she practically fell out of it, stumbling in the dim hall way. There were people out here as well. A couple snogging in a shadowy corner, two boys chatting leaned against the wall and a group of girls sat further down the hall playing exploding snaps. Lily looked about, feeling lost.

A strong arm grabbed hold of her as she began to sway dangerously. Blinking at the blond boy next to her, it took Lily a few seconds to recognize who it was.

"Shall we go on patrol?" Remus said with a wink and offered her his arm. Lily took it willingly, instantly feeling more stable.

After they had walked a little way she turned her head to look at him. "Thank you for saving me back there. That was rather embarrassing… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. We've all had a little too much before. Me with James and Sirius as my best friends probably more often than others." Remus said not seeming bothered in the slightest. Lily couldn't imagine Remus getting drunk.

"I don't. Normally. I just had one drink… Don't think it mixes well with the potion Madam Pomfrey gave me this morning… Potter made me…" Lily mumbled somewhat incoherently.

"James made you drink alcohol?" Remus said looking confused. He knew James liked to pull a prank and act irrational, but he couldn't imagine him doing something this stupid. Lily had just been in a coma after all. Something he knew James had not taken well.

Lily giggled a little, then quickly sat down on a flight of stairs, her head beginning to spin once more. "No not exactly. I don't know what it is about him… It's like I become a whole other person around him. He makes me so angry, that I act completely stupid! That's not normal, is it?" She blurted out. Normally she would not have discussed such things so freely, but the alcohol was making her careless.

Remus sat down next to her and looked at her with a look of quiet consideration. As if he was trying to solve a difficult problem. "I don't think it is. I think you two are just very different. Perhaps one day you'll see that-"

"If you're about to say that he is a nice guy, I will hex you!" Lily blurted out. Remus knew Lily didn't have her wand on her, but he was inclined not to risk it.

"Alright I won't." Remus said, holing his hands up in resignation.

"Good. Because in my state I would probably turn you into a pumpkin…" Lily said, resting her head on his shoulder. An act somewhat too familiar for their only newly found friendship, but she didn't care. Lily was just glad he was there with her.

* * *

 ** _Welcome back to our normal uploading_** ** _schedule! Hope you had a great week and enjoyed this new chapter (I know people have been asking for more James x Lily interaction, so I hope you liked that). If you have any questions, comments or concerns please leave me a review, because I love hearing from everyone! See you next week!_**

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	8. Here's what I can tell you

**Here's what I can tell you**

Four days later, the halls of Hogwarts were still abuzz with excitement and anger over the results of the last quidditch match. Most students were delighted by the idea of Slytherin finally being beaten after they had won the quidditch cup for three years in a row. Even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students would cheer whenever a member of Gryffindor's quidditch team walked past. People had even started referring to James Potter as the "Gryffindor Quidditch King". Something he would have been the last person to argue against.

The Slytherins too had come up with a name for him, but it was not nearly as kind, and certainly not as family friendly. In fact, they had come up with several colourful words to describe him and his team.

Lily, however, wasted no time on quidditch results or house politics. She had so much work to catch up on, she felt as if she would never be able to finish. And all that time she could have spent studying for the O.W.L.s… She was about ready to burst, running from class to the library and back. She spent more time there now than she ever had. Besides, even if she would never admit it, at least this felt right. It was easy. It was what she knew. There were no bad dreams there, or confusing voices or Death Eaters cursing you. There were just books. And Severus.

After another lunch spent in the library, Lily and Severus made their way down to Potions class. They reached the dungeon before anyone else. It was always good to be more than on time when it came to potions and Professor Slughorn, they had decided long ago. There was never enough time anyways, and so it was best not to have to waste their precious time with trivial things like setting up and collecting ingredients. Slughorn too, had come to appreciate this and had started to leave the door to potions class open before his lessons.

"I am so glad to be back here!" Lily exclaimed as Sev dropped his bag carelessly next to their shared desk. Severus couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. It was her first potions class back after her coma and he too had missed having her by his side, especially during this particular class. There was nothing more relaxing, and challenging at the same time to them, than spending hours mixing together potions. There was just a kind of flow to it, where they could both fully rely on each other without any second thought.

Every summer, they both missed Hogwarts, but potions making most of all. It wasn't the same for her, though. Sure, she missed Hogwarts and potions and her friends and all that, but at least she had a loving home and family to come home to during their holidays. Severus didn't. He hated that place and always dreaded going back home. It made Lily infinitely sad to think that he had it so hard, which was why she always spent as much time with him during the summer as was in any way possible.

Lily rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "I hope Slughorn has something good prepared for us. I looked through our potions book the other day and it looks quite promising!"

Sev nodded eagerly. He was still rather looking forward to using salamander blood in combination with powdered Griffin claw that year, as this was said to make for a particularly potent end product. "I think today we will do something simple, like calming draught. No doubt _some_ people will still find a way to mess even something like that up…"

"Why, not everyone can be quite as talented as the two of you!" Slughorn interjected as he entered the, by now half-filled, classroom.

Lily went slightly red, but smiled at her favourite teacher nevertheless. "Hello, Professor!"

"Welcome back, Miss Evans. It wasn't quite the same without you!"

It turned out that Severus had been wrong with his assumption. It was Invigoration Draught they were assigned to brew that Wednesday afternoon in October. A simple enough potion, Slughorn told them, but important for passing the O.W.L.s nonetheless.

"Off you go, then, work in pairs. Ask one of your fellow students if you need any help. You have until 3:25 to finish up, then I will come around and take a look at your results." Slughorn concluded, signalling them to start.

"Come on then Sev, I'll cut the jewelweed if you start boiling the essence of comfrey." Lily said, already concentrating on the task at hand. Chopping Jewelweed very carefully was always the key to a good outcome when it came to potions that were supposed to be taken in small doses.

Severus nodded and got to work without having to think too much about what he had to do. His hands just sort of did everything themselves, as if they knew exactly what needed to be done.

At 3:25 sharp, Slughorn got up out of his chair and looked around expectantly. There had not been any explosions, so nothing too catastrophic had happened during the past hour.

"Everyone finished? Good!" He said, ignoring the students further at the back, franticly scrambling about. Lily and Severus had finished long ago and had already filled the potion into two little vials. It smelled quite pleasantly, even with all that toad blood in it…

"Miss Evans and Mr Snape, let's see it then." Slughorn came over to them. He took a good long look at their concoction, sniffing it once or twice, then nodded. "Well done, as always!"

From somewhere behind her, Lily could hear snickering. Someone obviously didn't think very much of their achievements.

"I will see you two tomorrow for dinner, I think, no?" he said somewhat more quietly with a peevish look on his face, before moving on. Lily and Severus both sat up a bit straighter at that. There was little they were prouder of than their achievement of joining the Slug Club and being invited to his famous dinner parties.

* * *

"Where are you headed off to then?" Alice asked as Lily was about to walk out of Gryffindor common room. Seated on one of the couches, Alice looked her up and down with a puzzled look. Lily was wearing a long sleeved, moss-green shirt dress with a leather belt, a pair of chunky heel sandals and even a touch of make-up. The dress went well with her red hair and she loved the way it looked. Also, it was very comfortable. Lily wasn't one to wear things she didn't feel comfortable in and even though it was a muggle dress, it was the only one she had brought, and she doubted she would stick out too much. It wasn't too fancy either. She was going to have to ask her mother to send her something more formal if Professor Slughorn decided to throw another Christmas party…

"The Slug Club dinner party is tonight." Lily said gesturing at her outfit.

Alice nodded and smiled. "I see. You look lovely…" She chewed on her lip for a second as if there was something she wasn't telling her.

"What is it, Alice?"

"Well it's just… is Snape waiting for you or do you have a second? My mother wrote to me this morning and I thought I should let you know."

Distractedly, Lily looked down at her watch. Her sister had given it to her a long time ago. "Why, what did she write?"

"It's about the attack… And maybe about, you know… about the thing you heard while cursed?" replied Alice. She looked around as if someone might overhear her.

At first Lily was confused. What was she on about? Her eyes widened as it hit her. Alice was talking about the attack on Hogsmeade and the mysterious 'order' which the people in her dreams kept referring to. Quickly she nodded and joined her friend on the sofa.

"I'm a bit early, besides I'm sure Sev won't mind waiting for a second. What did she write?"

Alice nodded and pulled a folded letter out of her bag. "Well after you told me and Frank about what you heard, I decided to write to my mum about it. The attack that is, not the order! I asked her what the auror department knew so far and what they planned to do. That sort of thing. Nothing suspicious. Anyways, this is what she wrote back."

Alice handed Lily the letter. Lily's hands were almost shaking as she took it from her friend. She was afraid of what was written inside. Whatever it was, once she had read it, there was no way back. With a sigh she stared down at the neat hand writing of Rebekah Highmore. It read:

 _Dear Alice,_

 _I was so glad to hear that you friend is doing better, what a relief this must have been to you!_

 _As for what you asked, here is what I can tell you: last night, the auror department was tipped off about a Death Eater base, up in Leeds and we were able to capture four Death Eaters on scene this afternoon. Unfortunately, two escaped and one was killed during the raid. No doubt you'll be able to read all about that in the Prophet tomorrow, but I wouldn't trust everything in there, they tend to exaggerate. Anyways, the reason I am telling you this, my dear, is because the tip we received claimed these particular Death Eaters were directly involved in the Hogsmeade attack two weeks ago. Nothing has been confirmed yet, of course, and they all still need to be questioned, but, and this is the relevant part for you, Silvester and I will by traveling to Hogwarts in the following days to talk to you and some of your friends who witnessed the attack. Please do not mention this to them yet, as we do not want them to give us pre-thought through answers. Still, I thought you at least should know, so you can prepare yourself and help me when the time comes!_

 _Will write with more information and exact time soon,_

 _Lots of love from me and your father,_

 _R.H._

Lily let out deep breath of air she had been holding in without realizing it. They had received a tip. Could this have been from this elusive 'order' who had vowed to strike back against the Death Eaters. It made sense that it would. "They'll want to speak to me and Sev won't they?"

"Yes, I expect my mum and her partner will have some questions for you two. But don't worry, you know her, she's not at tough as she looks. And Silvester is nice too, you'll see. I've known him for ages!" Alice concluded with a shrug. "It's cause of the thing about a tip that I wanted to show you… even though my mum said not to. Hey, have you told Snape about all this, by the way?"

Lily shook her head, "No I've barely had time to talk to him properly. At least not about non O.W.L. related things."

"Well then don't! No, don't look at me like that. It's not because I don't like him, it's just because of what my mother said. Plus, you never know with these things. Bringing other people into this before we're sure might cause us to never find out!"

Lily bit her lip. From the way Alice was talking, she wasn't quite sure if she was being honest. It was true that Alice didn't like Severus, but she had never talked about him in this way. Like she didn't trust him. But Lily did. She trusted Severus with her life, in fact he had been the one who saved her that day at Hogsmeade. The idea of not telling him felt like a huge betrayal to her. She had never felt like she had to choose between her friends, but now, suddenly, it felt like she did.

"I won't tell him what your mother wrote, it's not my place. But if he is going to be interviewed by aurors in the coming days, he deserves to know that. And the other thing… I don't know, I'll have to think about it…" said Lily eventually. "Anyhow, I have to go now, or I'll be late."

"Alright. Have a nice dinner!" Alice nodded and waved after her. She looked unhappy with what Lily had decided on.

There was no time for any more arguments. Quickly Lily headed out the portrait hole and down the corridor. Severus would be waiting for her in the entrance hall. With another glance at her watch, her stomach dropped a little. She was already 10 minutes late. Sprinting down the stairs as fast as her heels allowed it, she almost crashed into Severus at the bottom of the last case.

"There you are! I was about to come looking for…" Severus trailed off staring at her with slightly big eyes.

Lily blushed a little and looked down at herself. "Is it too muggley, do you think?"

"No!" Severus blurted out and turned a little red himself. "I mean, no, you look wonderful!"

He himself was wearing his normal Slytherin uniform, but instead of his usual robes he wore something that looked like very old, worn out greyish green dress robes. The same he had worn every dinner or event since they had bought them two years prior at a second-hand robes store in Diagon Ally. Back then, they had still looked halfway decent. At least after Lily had gotten her hands on them. Now they were in desperate need of another round of fix ups.

"Thank you, Sev. Shall we?" she asked and took his arm. Together they made their way down to the dungeon, but rather than enter their potions classroom, they continued down a long hall and entered the second to last door on the left. Professor Slughorn's private office, which he usually had redecorated for such gatherings.

This particular evening, there was no desk, papers or writing utensils in sight. Instead a large mahogany table stood in the middle of the room, with nine places set. Sofas and armchairs stood near a lavish fireplace crackling with a cosy fire. It was nothing like the other rooms down in the dungeon. Not even Slytherin common room felt this comfortable and welcoming.

Three people had already arrived before them. Edgar Bones, a rather uncomfortable looking Dahlia Peri and a black-haired boy wearing Slytherin colours, whom Lily did not know by name. All three of them stood near the fireplace, talking to Professor Slughorn. Lily was happy to see that they were not the last to arrive.

Upon entering the room, Slughorn turned around and smiled broadly. "Ah, if it isn't the potions princes! So glad you could come. We have a new members joining us to day. Let me introduce you."

As Severus and Lily made their way over to join the others, Slughorn made a show of waving the new black-haired boy forward. "This talented young man is Regulus Black. Mr Black, this here is Severus Snape, whom you most likely already know from your house, and this is Lily Evans. Miss Evans is in the same house and year as your brother I believe, no?"

As they shook hands, Lily nodded and offered the boy a smile. "Sirius Black?"

The boy seemed to tense up ever so slightly, but nodded courtly. Clearly, he was not all too happy to hear his brother's name mentioned.

"I'm afraid, I must confess that we aren't exactly the best of friends." Lily said cautiously, and Severus gave a snort next to her. Black seemed to relax a little, however.

"I was never particularly close with him either." he said briskly. Lily examined him closely for a minute. He did look a little like his brother. But while Sirius Black was tall, muscular, and lively, the boy in front of her was much slighter and pail. It was his eyes that were the most different, though. As Emmeline repeatedly assured her, Sirius Black had the most beautiful eyes, sparkling with a quick wit and mischief, and while she certainly wasn't the most reliable source, there was no denying how different Regulus Black's eyes were. They seemed strangely sombre, perhaps even dull. He did not seem to be a very happy young man.

"What a shame, I hear good things about him, I'm sure…" Slughorn burst in before the conversation could get too far away from him. "Oh, and look the rest of our little gathering have arrived!" Slughorn walked off quickly. He sounded very glad to have to leave the somewhat awkward conversation they had all suddenly found themselves in. Lily and Severus shared an amused look.

"Well I do believe our group is now complete. Shall we sit down to eat?"

* * *

It had not been the most memorable evening, Lily thought as she and Severus made their way back upstairs after the dinner had ended. They had discussed everything from quidditch to politics, to each other's future plans. Slughorn had repeatedly tried to engage their newest member, Regulus Black, in their conversations but the boy barely ever spoke more than a few sentences.

The one thing that had stuck with Lily, was the fact that she had found herself seated between Professor Slughorn and Severus, with Edgar Bones sat across from her. He was a strong looking young man who was at least a head taller than her. Even though Lily hadn't talked to him much before, she knew him to be a good student and a great quidditch player. Just like her, Bones was a Prefect, though he was a year older than Lily. That, in and of itself, would not have been particularly thought provoking. What had surprised Lily, however, was how good looking he was. It was so strange how she had never noticed it before…

"Lily?" Severus gave her a sideways glace. He had insisted on accompanying her upstairs, which Lily had had no problem with as she hadn't yet found an opportunity to talk to him about the letter.

"Oh. Sorry, I'm just really tired! There is something I have to tell you. It's about last Hogsmeade weekend."

* * *

Rebekah Highmore and her partner, Silvester Moran, did not show up to talk to them, in the following days. Every day, Lily expected to be taken from class, or asked to come to McGonagall's office after hours, but nothing happened. Hogwarts just went on, almost as if nothing had changed. Alice did not have any more information either, though she too seemed to be growing more and more nervous. What was taking them so long?

Finally, on 28th of October, three days until the Hallowe'en feast, Lily and her friends were all up in their dormitory when someone knocked on the door. They had been celebrating Marlene's birthday and loud music was playing from the Gryffindor wireless, which they had "borrowed" from the common room and levitated all the way up the stairs.

"I'll get it, you keep unpacking that!" Lily shouted over to Marlene who was struggling to unwrap the gift the girls had gotten her together. Each girl had added one present to a box and then Lily had enchanted the wrapping paper with a spell that was usually used on ropes, causing it to be practically endless. It would take Marlene a very long time to get to the gifts inside it. From Alice, she would get home-made knitted socks, spelled to always be warm at night, Dorcas had gotten her a necklace, Emmeline a pair of matching earrings which glowed when danger was near, Mary had added a copy of "Jinxes for the Jinxed" and Lily had gotten her a quill and paper that wrote secret messages which could only be read by someone who knew the assigned password.

Lily practically threw the door open, expecting it to be more girls joining them or perhaps even a noise complaint. But that wasn't it. In front of her stood two men accompanied by Professor McGonagall. One of the men was tall, in his late 30's or early 40's, and looked more fierce than anyone Lily had ever seen. Small black eyes shone out of his rough, scared face, framed by long black hair. The other man, much smaller and less impressive looking, was at least 10 years younger. He certainly did not look fierce either. He simply looked tired and uncomfortable.

"Oh good, Miss Evans, it's you. This here is Alastor Moody and Silvester Moran, from the auror department. They would like to have a word with you, if you don't mind!"

* * *

 _ **Good evening everybody, hope you had a wonderful day! Being able to share this story with you makes me so happy and I really hope you lot are enjoying it!** **Unfortunately I am just now coming up on exam season at university, and so to ensure the continued quality of this story (though I guess that's subjective ;) ), I am going to change my posting** **schedule to every other Friday. After Christmas I promise to go back to our old once a week thing!**_

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and putting up with me! :)_**


	9. As Great a Victory as We Can Hope For

**As Great a Victory as We Can Hope For**

"Silvester? Where is my mother?" Alice asked from across the girl's dormitory. Everyone in the room had stopped to stare at the new comers. Emmeline had even switched of the wireless, cutting off "Midnight Moonlight" by the Merry Doxies half way through the chorus.

"Alice… you're here too…" it seemed as if Moran was trying not to meet her eyes, instead gazing intently at his hands.

"Pull yourself together, Moran!" the man who had been introduced as Alastor Moody grunted, giving him a disapproving sideways look.

"Miss Highmore and Miss Evans, please follow me!" Professor McGonagall interluded. Her voice did not sound as if she was going to take any more questions. Turning to leave she waved at them to follow. "Everyone else, as you were."

Lily's eye darted across the room to where Alice stood frozen in place. A muggle expression popped into Lily's mind. One that wasn't very fitting for someone who had been living at Hogwarts for almost five years now. Still, she thought, Alice looked like she had seen a ghost.

Her mind was racing for an excuse. For a delay. Anything. "Uh, alright Professor... Would you… would you mind if we get changed really quickly first? It's cold out in the castle."

"Yes of course. We will wait for you outside." Professor McGonagall nodded swiftly then directed the two men away from the door. As soon as they were out of sight, Lily slammed the door shut and took a deep breath.

"What in Merlin's beard is going on?" one of the girls finally asked. The tension in the room was so thick, even those who did not know what had happened, were unable to miss it.

"They're here about the attack at Hogsmeade. But that's not it." Lily said as she crossed the room, took Alice's hand and gave it a squeeze. "That man, Moran, he is Alice's mum's partner. _They_ were supposed to come interview me together and now he's here with someone else!" Lily explained to the others shortly. Alice still wasn't making a sound. She was staring at Lily with big eyes.

"I…" She finally croaked. "I can't…"

"Hush, let's not jump to conclusions. We don't know what's going on!" Lily said calmingly. The other girls had gathered around them, each wanting to comfort their friend. "Guys, we have to go. Can one of you go get Frank? Tell him what's happened. We might need him later."

"Yeah, course, I'll go!" Dorcas responded, keen to help in any way possible.

"Here, take these jumpers, so they'll think you changed!" Mary said holding out two knitted pullovers.

Walking through Gryffindor common room with a pale looking girl, two aurors, and their house head was a special new experience for Lily. Every single Gryffindor present in the room stared at them. No one spoke a word, and as the wireless was still upstairs, the room was dead quiet. It was a bit like what Lily expected it was like to be walked to the gallows, back during the time of the witch trials. Everyone seemed to be assuming the worst, exactly what Lily was desperately trying not to do.

Just before they ducked through the portrait hole, Lily caught sight of Remus. He and his friends had all gotten up when they noticed the little group coming down the girl's stairs. They all had strange expressions on their face. Remus looked worried, Pettigrew looked frightened, staring down at his feet and Sirius Black seemed somewhat confused as if he had been half way through doing something when they came into sight. It was James Potter that stood out to Lily the most. Potter looked… angry? Whatever it was that was going on inside that boy's mind, Lily thought she would never know. With one last nod to Remus, which she hoped conveyed to him that they would be alright, she ducked and left the common room.

* * *

"Just past here please!" McGonagall had ushered them into her first-floor office. Inside, Professor Dumbledore sat in a great red armchair, watching the flames of the fireplace over the rim of his half-moon spectacles.

Alice had been completely stiff all the way down the stairs, moving like a robot and not saying a word. The second she caught sight of Professor Dumbledore, however, she burst into tears. Had she been in her shoes, Lily probably would have taken Dumbledore's presence the same way. For one painful moment, nobody moved. Unable to do anything else, Lily threw her arms around Alice, as her friend sobbed uncontrollably.

With a speed Lily would not have expected of him, Dumbledore was at their side, resting one long hand on Alice's arm. "There is no need for tears, dear girl. I am so sorry you have taken my being here as such a bad omen. Your mother will recover, of that I am sure!"

Alice's blinked at him through a curtain of tears. She looked almost as if she didn't believe him. "re…recover?" she choked.

"Oh yes. I expect so. An owl arrived about half an hour ago saying she was already awake and talking again!" he said with a kind smile.

"But sir, what happened?" Alice asked after a second, still wide eyed.

"Alastor, Silvester, perhaps you would like to explain. Here, sit down, child." Dumbledore directed Alice over to where he had previously been seated by the fire. She did look like her feet might not carry her for much longer, Lily thought. Dumbledore nodded to the aurors and Moran took a step forward, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Alice… two days ago your mother was out after we… Well we were tracking down an escaped Death Eater, wanted for questioning. We weren't meant to go looking for them until a day later, but she must have received another tip from…" Moran trailed off after the other man, Alastor Moody, grunted loudly. "…Anyways, she left right away, without telling anyone where she was going. I didn't know she had gone, I told your father that as well. Otherwise I definitely would have gone with her, I promise you! I…" Moran stammered, his voice thick with guilt.

The other auror shook his head and went on for him. "This was not approved business she was on. It was reckless and dangerous, and she could have been killed." He said, making no effort to sugar coat his words. "Luckily, we got there before they got a chance to finish her off. We found her in an abandoned farm house north of Melrose. She was rather banged up, but the healers at St. Mungo's say all that will heal up soon. Your father is with her, he'll be able to tell you more!"

Lily who had been more concentrated on her friend than anything else, suddenly realized what he was saying. "So, does that mean Alice can go see her?" finally she looked up at the adults in the room.

In response, McGonagall informed them that Alice's father would be arriving shortly to pick her up and take her to St. Mungo and bring her back the next day. Almost as soon as she was done talking, the flames in the fireplace turned emerald green and a man appeared inside it. After embracing his daughter for a long moment, Geral Highmore greeted all the others in the room. Lily gave Alice one last squeeze of encouragement. She wished she could go with her and help her through this, but she thought better than to ask. She didn't want to intrude. This was a family matter after all. And so, they disappeared into the green flames, leaving the others behind.

"Miss Evans, do not look quite so mournful, everyone involved has lived to be reunited with their loved ones, and that, in and of itself, is as great a victory as we can hope for!" Professor Dumbledore regarded her with a warm look in his eyes. "Besides, these fine gentlemen need your help still."

Lily nodded. "I understand. Will Severus Snape be joining us?" absentmindedly she had forgotten that she was not supposed to have known about the content of this meeting. Quickly, she added: "as I assume this is about the Hogsmeade incident…"

For a second Lily felt like perhaps the more fierce looking auror gazed at her mistrustfully, but then the second passed and Professor McGonagall spoke up. "No, miss Evans, there will be separate interviews with all the students involved. Alastor, Silvester, shall we begin"

That was when it finally hit her. Through all the mess and confusion about Alice's mother, Lily simply hadn't noticed, or cared. But now she did. The man who had come instead of Rebekah Highmore, was called _Alastor_ Moody. The man Frank had told them about, no doubt. Was this the man the voices from her dream had been referring to?

* * *

The next day, Lily still felt drained. She had barely slept. None of the girls had. When she had returned, Lily had told them everything, sparing only the details concerning the order. After that, no one had really been in the mood for talking. They had all just gone off to bed, everyone thinking of home and their own families.

Lily just wasn't able to settle down. She had spent hours thinking, her thoughts racing.

It was worse during her morning classes. During breakfast, Lily had gotten a chance to talk to Severus about his own interview the night before. Just like her, the aurors had asked Severus hundreds of questions, several of which had been concerning the appearance of their attackers. Unlike Lily, however, Severus was able to give them concrete answers. When they had asked him, whether or not one of the Death Eaters had seemed injured in any way or if any of them had limped, Severus had told them that he had seen one of the taller ones get hit in the leg by a hex which he judged would probably have been enough to make him or her limp for a while.

In Lily's mind, this was now evidence enough. The 'order' was real. The Death Eaters at Hogsmeade that weekend were the same ones that the auror's department had captured. The order had hunted them down and tipped off the aurors about their location, striking back just like they had promised. The man, the female voice had mentioned, must be Alastor Moody, which also made sense. If this order truly was fighting against the Death Eaters, powerful aurors like Moody were likely to be its members.

After her last lesson, she desperately needed someone to talk to. Severus came to mind. She wanted to tell him. But then there was also Longbottom. He already knew, and with everything that had gone down in the past days, he was more involved than ever. There was only one problem. Where on earth was that boy? Her last two lessons had been without him and after a thorough look around the crowded common room, Lily concluded that he was not there either.

"Hey Prewett!" Lily called out to a boy sitting by the fire. His back was turned to her, but it didn't matter. The red hair gave it away every time. As long as you were careful to call them by their last name, it didn't even matter which one of them it was. That was always safer with twins.

"Present!" two voices called at once. Lily hadn't noticed the other Prewett twin sitting on the other side of the room.

"Hey, she's talking to me, knuckle head!" cried one of them to the other a great big grin on his face.

"How would you know, numskull?" the other retorted, jumping to his feet as if ready to fight.

Lily sighed, though she couldn't stop herself from smiling at least a little bit. The two of them were complete idiots, but they never failed to entertain.

"See? Now you've made her angry when she was just going to ask me something very, very nicely, weren't you, future Mrs. Po-" the one on the right, whom Lily suspected to be Fabian Prewett, elbowed his brother in the ribs, making him shut up immediately. Lily rolled her eyes. If she hadn't been so deep in thought about more important things, she probably would have been offended. Mrs. Potter? Honestly?

"Has either of you dimwits seen Longbottom?" Lily asked only half-jokingly, crossing her arms impatiently.

The two of them shot each other a look, which Lily wrongly interpreted as part of their usual silly behaviour.

"Yup" said the slightly shorter out of the two, Gideon Prewett. "He's upstairs, in our dormitory."

"You have our permission to go get him!" Fabian quickly retorted.

Lily glanced at the stairs. She had never been up there. It was the boy's side. What reason could she possible ever have to go up there?

"Can't one of you get him?" Lily asked.

"Nope!"

"Terribly busy…"

"So much homework…"

Idiots, Lily thought, rolling her eyes again and walked past them up towards the stairs. Her face felt burning hot as she climbed the narrow staircase. It seemed like she was doing something she shouldn't have. But then, what other choice did she have?

Tentatively, Lily knocked on the door marked with a sign reading '5th years', to which someone had added 'are the best looking'. No doubt, this was the right place.

A second or so later, the door flew open and a half-dressed James Potter stood in front of her. Of bloody course. It was just her luck to knock on the door that held the boy she hated, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, behind it. For a second, both of them were too shocked to say anything. Then, quickly, Lily covered her eyes as if the sight of Potter's upper body would scar her eyes.

"You're right Evans, my body is beautiful enough that it hurts others. I have been told that several times! Come in and maybe, if you ask nicely, I'll show you more…" Potter said, trying to sound cocky, though the surprise of finding her there was still clearly written on his face.

Lily made a retching noise and pretended to throwing up. "Bugger off Potter, I have absolutely no desire to see you right now, no matter what state of undress!" Lily said. "I'm looking for Longbottom. Is he here?"

"Depends." Potter answered, clearly not fazed by her rejection. "Will you come in if I tell you he is?"

"Is he here or not? I know you couldn't possibly understand the meaning of such a difficult question, but it's rather important, so perhaps you'll make an effort!"

Lily lowered her hand to stare at his face intently, making sure not to let her gaze drop even one millimetre bellow his eyes. She simply wasn't going to let him have the satisfaction of it.

To her surprise, Potter had shut up and was looking back at her, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and one eyebrow slightly raised. After a second he opened the door a little wider, revealing the mess that was the fifth-year boy's dormitory. There was clothing everywhere, along with books and an assortment of magazines and parchment rolls spread across the floor. Lily felt sorry for the house elves in charge of cleaning that mess up every now and then.

Aside from the mess, however, the room was empty. "You're welcome to come in and check, but no, Frank's not here. But if you give me a second, I'll get dressed and help you find him."

"That won't be necessary, I'm right here!"

Lily had been so taken aback by Potter's sudden serious demeanour, she had completely failed to notice the boy she was looking for, coming up behind her.

"Frank! There you are." Lily went a little red as Longbottom's eyes moved back and forth between her and the half-dressed James Potter in front of her.

"Here I am." He said sounding amused, though his eyes seemed full of worry. Of course, he was worried, she thought. She should have come to talk to him much earlier.

"Can we talk?" and then with a slight sideways glance at Potter, she quickly added, "in private maybe."

"Sure, don't let me stop you! I'll just pretend I'm not here…" Potter interjected, though much more subdued than usual. Even he got that this was important, thought Lily.

Without hesitating much longer, Frank nodded and signed for her to follow him.

"Wait." Potter called after them as Lily was about to head down the stairs. His face still looked so serious. Maybe he was ill, Lily thought. "Evans, are you alright? What was all that yesterday?"

Blinking at him in suspicious disbelief, Lily was unsure how to react. What James Potter actually showing genuine interest, perhaps even concern for her? He really must have been sick. Or perhaps hit over the head by a Bludger during Quidditch practice. "I'm… I'm fine. It's Alice people should worry about." And with that, Lily dashed down after Frank, her face a brilliant shade of red still.

* * *

 _ **Hello everyone! Im really sorry I haven't posted in so long, its been a rather crazy time. But whatever, I'm back and there is lots more coming!**_

 _ **hope you had a wonderful holiday,**_

 ** _Bye lovelies,_**

 ** _LadyMacbeth98_**

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


	10. Jinxs, Hexs and Curses

**Jinxs, Hexs and Curses**

The sun had long set over the icy highland scenery surrounding Hogwarts and most students had gone to bed when the portrait of the Fat Lady finally swung open and Alice Highmore ducked into Gryffindor common room.

Frank and Lily both looked up from their books at the same time, identical smiles forming on their faces when they saw who it was. Franks book scattered to the floor, where it lay forgotten, as he jumped to his feet, ran over to his exhausted looking girlfriend, and embraced her in the biggest hug Lily had ever seen.

"I'm so glad your back!" he exhaled, holding on tight.

Lily gave them a moment, closed her own book more thoughtfully and put it aside. She and Frank had had a long talk that evening, before returning to Gryffindor common room with nothing left to say. There was nothing else to say. They had talked for so long. First about the order, then about Alice and then about life in general. Frank was a good listener, always nodding and speaking in exactly the right places. For the first time, Lily had properly realized what Alice saw in him. Sure, he was quiet and thoughtful. But he wasn't at all boring. And it wasn't even just seeing how much he cared for Alice, as Lily had originally thought. It was his sweet, calming and trustworthy demeanour that really stood out to her. Truly, he was the perfect match for her. They were both lucky to have each other, Lily thought, regarding them. Would she ever find someone like that, she wondered with a slight blush…

"… it was just awful, she was in such a bad condition…"

Lily snapped back to reality. Alice was talking with so much concerned in her voice, it made Lily want to cry. But she didn't. Instead, she got up and hugged her friend tightly as well. Just like she had done the day before in McGonagall's office. These kinds of things brought people together. There was a bond between the three of them now, that could not easily be broken. The kind of bond Lily had only ever had with her best friend. Severus. And perhaps her sister, when they were younger.

"You want to sit down and tell us what happened?" She asked, finally letting go of Alice.

And so they did, and Alice told them everything. She told them about how her mother had probably been ambushed by the very Death Eaters she had been hunting and how they had overwhelmed her. She told them about how the healers at St. Mungo's had said she had been hit by a botched memory charm, most likely "obliviate", which was causing her to suffer from an extreme case of temporary memory loss.

"Honestly, when they told me that, I was expecting something like… I don't know, something like what old people have. But it was so much worse. When I came in the room, she didn't even seem to recognize me. It was like I wasn' even there. She just kept talking nonsense. It made no sense to me. She kept repeating the same line over and over. I tried to talk to her and everything, but all she kept say was 'remember remember, the 5th of November" or something like that. My dad took me out when he heard her. Didn't want me to see her in that state I suppose…" Alice described, sounding both drained and incredibly troubled.

"Why would she be repeating lines from a nursery rhyme?" Frank asked the question on Lily's lips.

"What do you mean?"

"What you were saying. It's a nursery rhyme." Lily interjected. "It goes: ' _Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot, I know of no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot._ ' I don't remember the rest. But it's about Guy Fawkes, who was this Muggle that tried to blow up Muggle parliament during the rule of King James I."

Alice looked at the two of them with disbelief for a moment. Then her face softened, and a great smile appeared on her lips. "Merlin's beard, that explains everything! She did recognize me!"

When she saw the confused looks on Frank and Lily's faces, she continued: "I used to love nursery rhymes and poems and riddles and all those things when I was a child. My mom would spend hours reading them to me. That's what it must be, no? She must have recognized and dug that memory up from deep deep down! Strange she would choose that one though… I don't even remember it that well. Certainly wasn't one of my favourites…"

After a minute of chewing her lips, she went on: "But it doesn't matter. This morning she was much better already. She seemed a lot more herself. She asked me about my grades were and how Frank was doing… The healers say she will be completely fine again in about a week or so. Maybe, I'll be able to visit her again by then."

* * *

For the first time in a while, Lily slept well. It had been a long, restless day, but that night she slept like a rock. Even her reoccurring dreams stayed away. The only dream she had all night was of a potions class she had had a few years prior. There was a giant bubbling cauldron in it and a smiling Severus Snape, strangely wearing a pink bonnet and matching nightgown. Where that idea had come from, Lily had no idea. At least it hadn't been a long dream…

Nevertheless, Lily had slept so well, that she had completely slept through the sound of her alarm clock and even the chatter of the other girls getting ready. It took Marlene finally whipped open her curtains and shaking her awake, that she bolted up right. Now in a terrible rush, Lily jumped into her school robes, spelled her hair into a tight ponytail and dashed downstairs.

Only once she had entered the Great Hall, did she realize what day it was. The 31st. Tonight would be the Hallowe'en feast. The Hall was already richly decorated. Carved pumpkins stood around everywhere, some even floating, and bright orange ribbons danced through the air as if they had just been shot from a confetti cannon. In the evening, it would all look even more spectacular, but the mood in the room was already excellent. Finally, the talk was no longer about the latest Quidditch match.

As Lily headed towards Slytherin table, she overheard what was being said. Opposite to what she had thought, Hallowe'en was not the subject being discussed among the students around her.

Dropping down onto the bench across from Severus, she asked "What's going on here? I oversleep one day, and I am completely out of the loop! Why is everyone discussing spells and duelling?"

Severus gave her a rare smile. It was a smile reserved solely for her. Not that she would ever have known that, of course. "It's because of the new Duelling Club, Dumbledore is starting. Apparently, there were sign-up sheets in every common room this morning. Looks like most people are interested in going!"

Lily furrowed her brow. A Duelling Club? That was certainly new. The concept wasn't, she had read about many famous Duelling Clubs throughout the ages. But the thing was, the last time there had been one at Hogwarts, was during Grindelwald's revolution. Ultimately, the need for the club's existence did not mean anything good.

"Well, there is nothing for it. We'll have to go won't we." Lily concluded.

Severus nodded, finishing off his toast. "Already signed us up. Thought better we're on the list twice than we end up in one of the bad groups!"

"What do you mean one of the bad groups?"

"Welcome all students!" squeaked Professor Flitwick from atop a stool on the teacher's platform, the next evening. Aside from his podium, all other furniture that usually stood in the Great Hall had been removed.

As his first attempt had failed to grab anyone's attention, Flitwick held the tip of his wand to his throat, making his high-pitched voice boom throughout the Hall. Immediately all chatter died down. "Your achievements in your various classes, the opinions of your Head of House as well as your personal choice have all been taken into account when picking your group. Different groups will learn different things, depending on your level of expertise. Shortly, you will be sorted into these groups. However, I would advise you not to get too comfortable, your group leaders will watch you closely today and re-sort you accordingly. Questions?"

Several hands shot into the air as excited whispers started up once more.

"No? Good, then let's get started!"

Carefully, the short old wizard climbed down from the stool had had been standing on and waved two men forward who had been waiting further back. Each of them was carrying a small wooden chest. Flitwick waved his wand at the two chests, with a flourish of movements. What followed was an almost inaudible pop as both chests flew open, sending hundreds of pieces of parchment flying into the air. With a collective "ooh" from the crowd the parchment pieces zigzagged through the air, shooting into all direction.

"Everyone, stick out your right hand, please!" Flitwick cried over the noise of the paper. It sounded almost like there were thousands of birds in the Great Hall. As the students stretched out their hands, the parchment started to rain down on them like thick white snowflakes, each landing in the outstretched hand of the student it belonged to.

With a look of amazement Lily stared at her own sliver of parchment. Even after five years at Hogwarts, magic still never failed to amaze her.

"What's yours say?" Severus asked looking over her shoulder. Somewhat nervously, Lily unfolded the parchment that had landed in her hand.

"It just says _Advanced, Lower Dungeon_. What does yours say?" Lily asked, slightly confused.

Smiling, Severus showed her his parchment. Their pieces were identical. Relieved, Lily smiled back at her best friend. If they were there together, then it almost didn't matter what it meant.

A few minutes later, after Flitwick had explained that there were five levels (beginner, elementary, intermediate, advanced and proficiency) and that the location following the group name was where they would be meeting from then on, everyone had set off in the direction of their group's meeting place.

It took them ages to get down to the dungeon, as so many people were all heading in different directions at the same time. Once they had finally made their way out of the hall, the decent down to the dungeon was easy. There were only a handful of people who were headed in that direction.

"I wonder how many people are in the proficiency group…" Lily whispered to Severus as they headed down the Dungeon Staircase. They didn't know too many of the older students. Lily only knew those who regularly came to Prefect's meetings or the Slugclub, though she hadn't really talked to any of them too much. It was a strange idea thinking that she was in the second-best group. Not because she thought that she ought to have be in the very best group, but because she had never even considered herself good enough for the advanced one. She had had so little experience and at the same time such a great knack for underestimating herself.

Either way, Lily swore to herself that she would soak up every word and study every spell they learned, meticulously. She almost felt as if it was her duty to do so. After everything that had happened, and everything she feared was yet to come, Lily simply had to do her very best!

Once they arrived in the spacious practice room, neither Lily nor Severus had ever been to, both of them looked around the room to see who else was in their group.

"Oh good, Alice and Frank are here as well! Oh and Marlene, look!"

"Almost all of the Slugclub is here, look even Delcon and Slinkhard…" Severus said, almost sounding a little disappointed. Lily was about to ask why he was being so rude when three more familiar faces walked in.

"Bloody hell." Lily cursed, her hands turning into fists.

Next to her, Severus had become quite still. His eyes fixed on the faces of Potter, Black and Lupin. There was nothing Lily could do. In a group of around 20 people, it would be impossible to avoid them for too long.

"So the term 'Advanced' is meant very loosely, then?" Severus said in a voice thick with hate, speaking more than loud enough for the new comers to hear.

Both Potter and Black looked at each other for a second and then immediately doubled over laughing.

"Good one, Snivellus." Potter said with a broad, confident smirk on his face. "We are just as shocked they let you in here, as I am sure you are!"

"Nah, Prongs, they just put him here because no other group would have him!" Again they began to laugh.

They truly were the most despicable, loathsome fools. Before Lily could react however, Severus had taken a step forward, his wand drawn within seconds and pointed at the gang in front of him. "You want to say that again, _Potter_?" he nearly spat the name.

Potter and Black reacted just as rapidly, drawing their own wands. Remus next to them was slower, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"Stand down at once!" a growling voice barked from behind the three, armed Marauders. Lowering their wands, they parted turning slightly red. Severus too lowered his wand looking begrudgingly at the man who had appeared in the doorway. Alastor Moody. The auror who had interviewed Lily a few days earlier. Next to him stood Professor Cunningham, their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. In the short time that they had had her, she had become notorious for her foul mood and strict demeanour.

"How dare you draw your wands?! Ten points from Gryffindor for each of you and another ten from Slytherin!" she screeched. "I should have you all thrown out of this Duelling Club right now!"

"I don't think that will be necessary, Amalia." Moody grunted, then turning to Potter to add "And you, wipe that look off your face and hold your tongue. Your parents won't be happy to hear you've been getting in trouble at school!"

"At this point, I think their used to it." James retorted, trying to sound as if Cunningham's speech hadn't bothered him at all. To Lily's amazement, Moody huffed, sounding almost amused. _They knew each other?_ It was just Lily's luck that it was James flipping Potter, who knew the man she had been so desperate to find out more about. For a second, she almost wished Severus had had time to curse his stupid face off.

"If you're all done stupidly staring, then I'd say we get going." Professor Cunningham scolded, clearly displeased to have been undermined.

"Alright with me." Moody said, walked into the middle of the room and introduced himself curtly. "Myself and Professor Cunningham here will be your instructors in this advanced group. The goal is to get you ready for what is out there. We live in dark times, there's is no point denying it."

"For today, however, we want to see what you are capable of. We have devised a number of exercises to test your abilities." After seeing the concerned look on many of the faces in front of her, Professor Cunningham added: "It's for your own good. There's no point in you being in a group that's too hard for you or perhaps even doesn't challenge you enough. Now get in line in front of me here. One after the other please, move along!"

Quickly Lily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him to front of the line as far away from Potter and his friends as possible. The last thing she needed while being tested by these disagreeable people, was having to worry about Potter or Black jinxing her or Severus from behind.

The first " _exercise_ ", as they had called it, consisted of Moody and Professor Cunningham shooting a spell at them, which they in turn had to rapidly either counter using the appropriate counter-spell, or block using _protego_. They did this for a while with each student, before signing for him or her to join the back of the line.

Waiting for your turn was the worst part, Lily thought. It was nerve-racking, even though she knew it wasn't anything too difficult, nor were they using any dangerous spells. Once it was her turn, however, she realized it was much easier to do than it looked. Fun, almost. She was able to counter all five spells shot at her, only needing _protego_ once. "Well done. Next."

Almost everyone made it through the first exercise completely unscathed. A few students were hit with the leg-locker curse, a tripping hex or had their wands knocked from their hand.

"Alright, none of you are completely in adequate, so let's move on to something a bit harder. Pair up and find yourselves some space, I'll explain what to do." Moody instructed them.

Already stood next to Severus Lily took his arm and marched a little further back in the room. Again, far away from those idiot boys.

"Good, now take turns. I assume you all know a whole number of charms, hexes, jinxes and curses that aren't going to harm your classmates. One person fires, the other block or counters. Got it? Go!"

Lily and Severus bowed at each other with big smiles on their faces. This would be fun. It was sort of like passing a ball between one another, but with wands and slightly higher stakes.

"You star- _protego_!" Severus had blocked Lily's tickling charm just in time. "Oh so that's how it's going to be? _Cantis_!"

Mere second before the blue light shot from Severus' wand hit her, she murmured the words " _recant_ ", letting the two beams cancel each other out.

"A singing jinx? That would be more torture for you, than for me, Sev!" Lily laughed.

And so they continued, charm after charm and hex after hex. At one point, Lily almost transfigure Severus into a bird, a few seconds later, he nearly hit her with a jelly-brain jinx.

"And STOP!" called out Professor Cunningham, shooting red sparks from her wand in order to get their attention. "Good. No one was killed. Let us get to the last exercise. You have been up against your friends, doubtlessly all meaning well. But that is not a real challenge. In battle, you will never face your friends, at least none that were ever truly your friend. Before we finish, I want you to go into new pairs. Go with someone you don't know as well or aren't friends with, that way we will have a more real scenario!"

Everyone looked around a little uneasy. There were people from all houses present, finding someone you weren't exactly best friends with wasn't going to be difficult. After a second, Lily locked eyes with Dahlia Peri, a Slytherin she knew only very vaguely from the Slugclub.

As she was about to walk over to her, a particularly messy haired boy stepped in her way. "Duel with me, Evans, will you?"

Lily looked at Potter with distaste. She had absolutely no desire to be anywhere near him, much less work together with him.

"Didn't you hear, Potter, no friends or loved ones allowed and after all, we are sooo close." She hissed ironically.

"I'm touched, Evans. I had no idea you felt that way about me. Now that I do, however, you wanna go out with me some time? Sneak out to Hogsmeade for a night, maybe?" Potter retorted without missing a beat.

Lily rolled her eyes. She was starting to be more and more in the mood to duel with him after all. "In your dreams and my darkest nightmares, perhaps. But you know what, I will be your partner. Perhaps jinxing that dumb grin off your face will actually be somewhat therapeutic!"

"Wands at the ready, everyone. Remember, I won't have any funny business with you lot. No hurting one another. Alright, GO!"

Without a bow, a smile or any other warning, Lily raised her wand. " _confundo_!"

Prepared even for this, Potter simply whipped her charm away with one elegant hand motion. "Nice. Try harder. _Locomotor mortis_!"

A minute or so of spells flying between them, and Lily knew she was losing. Or at least, she certainly wasn't going to win and with being pared of against him, that was the same thing. As much as she hated to admit it, Potter was bloody good at this. He was quick and after a while, he certainly wasn't holding back either. If she wanted to win, Lily was going to need to get creative. She needed to trick him. Distract him somehow. An idea came to her mind. When it was her turn again, she pointed her wand directly at his face and cried:

" _lumos solem_ " Immediately, a jet of brilliant white light shot out of her wand, bright as the sun. It didn't matter how he would react after that, it was too late for him. He was blinded for long enough that Lily could raise her wand once more and fire off another spell while he was distracted.

" _nasum vespertilio_ " she whispered the first hex she could think of. Sure, a bat bogey hex was terribly childish, but it felt incredibly satisfying in the moment.

* * *

 _ **Oh man, chapter 10... For me, that's a lot! But I love this story and the characters and I am so glad people are enjoying it, leaving such kind reviews and continuing to follow the story.**_

 _ **Bey for now lovelies,**_

 _ **LadyMacbeth98**_

 ** _(Also a special thanks to_ _Utantsano for your support, input and beta reading! :)_**


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